Ulysses: Sailing into the Mind
Hosted by the British Psychoanalytic Association: Staying Connected
with Toby Brothers, Director of the London Literary Salon
Discussant: Mary Twyman. Psychoanalyst BPA BPAS
Chair: David Morgan. Psychoanalyst BPA BPAS BPF
Friday January 23rd 7-9:30 PM £5 Donation
Meeting at: British Psychotherapy Foundation 37 Mapesbury Road London NW2 4HJ
Why specifically is a study of Ulysses useful in psychotherapeutic practice?
Reading and discussing Ulysses provides an excellent and broad platform from which to develop and study the theory of mind. Although the characters are syntactical constructions, Joyce’s genius with language creates beings of depth and complexity while he uses a myriad of styles, allusions and shifting registers to ground our understanding whilst expanding linguistic potential.
In Ulysses, the space between exterior and interior realms is probed and disintegrated as the form of the writing reflects the fluidity between the language of our minds and what is translated into exterior speech. We come to know Bloom and Stephen through thought, sensory impression, memories, fantasies, anxieties, hauntings, humor, relationships, and all the detritus that floats through the mind of an ordinary man on an ordinary day.
The book also engages questions and stances around gender, sexuality, identity theory, cultural taboo, prejudice, nationalism, myth, self-determination, political oppression….the endless nature of the list does not point to a vagueness in the work: in fact, in all the areas that the narrative delves, the explorations are substantive and tangible.
Reading this book reveals the incredible depth of the text and the innovative brilliance that Joyce employs to create the most insightful revelation of human mind to date. Toby Brothers.
Contact Ju TOMAS-MERRILLS: jutm@me.com to reserve…
