Dancing with the Unconscious
The Art of Psychoanalysis and the Psychoanalysis of Art Danielle Knafo, Long Island University, New York, USA “Danielle Knafo has written a compelling and enlightening book, a testimony to the depths of the creative spirit. Explorations span psychoanalysis, art, literature, and dance, with special emphasis on what art can contribute to understanding psychoanalysis as well as the reverse. Processes that go into art-making also go into psychoanalysis. She brings out dimensions of the creative unconscious that add to our appreciation of being alive.” - Michael Eigen, author, Contact with the Depths and Faith and Transformation
February 2012: 304pp. Hb: 978-0-415-88100-5: £60.00/$99.00 £54.00/$89.10 Pb: 978-0-415-88101-2: £22.99/$36.95 £20.69/$33.26
Series: Psychoanalysis in a New Key Book Published by Routledge
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Combining theory and therapy–the clinic and the studio– Danielle Knafo’s Dancing with the Unconscious extends the dialogue between psychoanalysis and art and shows how each discipline informs the other. The first chapter in Part I frames Knafo’s discussion of the analytic encounter by describing it as a dance performed by two unconscious minds. Through the narration of a treatment with a transgendered patient’s struggle with unconscious conflict, she demonstrates the profound creative possibilities inherent in free association, transference, and dream work. Chapters that follow investigate the use of regression in psychoanalysis and art, the relationship between creativity and substance abuse, the creative transformations of trauma, and the psychological partnership between solitude and creativity. Part II begins with a provocative analysis of the dreams of Freud and Jung and shows how unconscious contents reveal the genesis of each psychologist’s respective theory. Chapters that follow include a re-evaluation of the film Blue Velvet through the lens of the primal scene, the symbolic expression of trauma and the attempt to repair it in the art
of Egon Schiele and Ana Mendieta, and the spellbinding, sadomasochistic vision of writer and artist Bruno Schulz. This new work by Knafo illustrates how, taken together, the art of psychoanalysis and the psychoanalysis of art bear witness to the endless creativity and healing potential of the unconscious mind. Contents: Introduction. Part I: The Art of Psychoanalysis. Dancing with the Unconscious: The Art of Psychoanalysis. One Step Back, Two Steps Forward: Regression in the Service of Art and Psychoanalysis. The Senses Grow Skilled in their Craving: Thoughts on Creativity and Substance Abuse. Creative Transformations of Trauma: Private Pain in the Public Domain and the Clinical Setting. Alone Together: Solitude and the Creative Encounter in Art and Psychoanalysis. Part II: The Psychoanalysis of Art. Dreams of Genius: Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung. Egon Schiele: A Self in Creation. At the Limits of the Primal Scene: Revisiting Blue Velvet. Ana Mendieta: Goddess in Exile. Bruno Schulz: Desire’s Impossible Object.
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