The Notting Hill psychoanalyst Adam Phillips sets aside one day a week from practice to write; Unforbidden Pleasures is his 20th book. He takes the subtle view that self-knowledge is a form of self-denial (to know oneself is to limit one’s possibilities) and calls his profession “an experiment in what your life might be like if you speak freely”. These ideas guide his approach to writing, which he claims to let flow without sweat. The eel-like essays that result aren’t a vehicle for preordained argument so much as a way for him to discover what he thinks. You might say his readers need the patience of an analyst – except we’re the ones paying for the session.
The central idea in his new book is fairly simple. Rules, and the temptation to break them, confuse our sense of pleasure with notions of self-control. What Phillips would like us to do about this is harder to grasp, and his terms are far from obvious. Forbidden pleasures, seldom defined, include running a red light. Among Phillips’s “unforbidden” pleasures – the ones he says we might want to reconsider if we’re to escape the clutches of taboo – are “morning coffee” but also “self-criticism” and “obedience”.
Continue reading...
0 comments:
Post a Comment