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This article explores what we call “the hostile container” and how it influences the capacity of a writer to think about and write about ideas. The hostile container is an intrapsychic space that diminishes the capacity to think and write. The notion of the hostile container emerges from the idea that the process of thinking—and hence of writing—is largely an unconscious dialogue between two parts of the dual self (Meares, 1992; Ringer, 2022). We refer to one part of the dual self as the “declaring part” and the other as the “receiving part”. The “declaring” part is “heard” by the “receiving” part. If the receiving part is a hostile internal object, the dialogue is severely impeded because the declaring part will avoid being attacked. We develop this core concept to help to understand intrapsychic processes that both enhance and impede the ability to write. This article is presented in the form of a “metalogue” (Bateson, 1972) between the authors.
Following in the footsteps of Gregory Bateson's idea of metalogue, the article that follows is a condensed version of many conversations between Fiona Martin and Martin Ringer as they jointly explored the notion of a hostile container within the experience of authoring.
The authors’ intent in presenting this material in the form of a metalogue is to provoke associations in the reader rather than to postulate firm ideas. We invite you to follow your own associations as you read through this and we hope that this process evokes new thoughts for you. We invite you to share your thoughts with us, the authors.