You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The Authority of Tenderness—written in the voice of the adult self—is the final book in Paul William’s trilogy about trauma and its possible reclamation.
The three volumes, including The Fifth Principle1 and Scum,2 retrace the journey of an abused and traumatized boy raised in a violent environment, constituting an “…account of the methods of one particular mind in its efforts to prevail under oppressive circumstances” (preface).
This final volume is a glimpse into a process of change and describes the protagonist's extraordinary resilience as he undergoes recovery and attempts to establish the foundation for his true self. The Authority of Tenderness leaves us with a sense of hope that the protagonist has found the precious and essential element for his authentic growth.
Williams, who is a distinguished psychoanalyst and established clinician, is interested in understanding how the mind functions in severely traumatized patients. Educated at the British Psychoanalytical Society where he worked as a training analyst, Williams was joint-editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis together with Glenn Gabbard from 2001 to 2007. He is author of many theoretical and clinical papers and books and currently lives and works in California.
The three volumes are part of a new direction in which Williams dedicates himself to a different type of writing, an experiment, as he has stated. He uses a narrative form to describe more effectively the heart of trauma. These books are neither autobiographical nor case histories, “…because the author of the book and the individual about which the book is written is not the same person” (preface). The books describe a mind which has been attacked, humiliated, and defaced during the process of growth, before it was able to protect itself.
By way of the narrative, the reader experiences the ruthless-but-necessary struggle of a severely traumatized young man who attempts to defend the integrity of his true self despite appa