Research Catalog

Title

Faces in a cloud : intersubjectivity in personality theory / George E. Atwood and Robert D. Stolorow.

Author

Atwood, George E.

Publication

Northvale, N.J. : Aronson, c1993.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Stolorow, Robert D.

Description

xiv, 210 p.; 23 cm.

Summary

In this new edition of their now classic work, George Atwood and Robert Stolorow explore the ways in which a theory of personality is influenced and colored by the subjective world of the theorist. Using psychobiographical analyses of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Wilhelm Reich, and Otto Rank as illustrations, the authors show how the central constructs of personality theories universalize their creators' personal solutions to the nuclear crises and dilemmas of their own life histories. Illuminating the subjective origins of a personality theory does not invalidate the theory, according to Atwood and Stolorow, but rather contributes to establishing the scope of the theory as well as its applicability to particular clinical situations. The first edition of Faces in a Cloud (published in 1979) was the seminal work out of which emerged the now influential theory of intersubjectivity - a framework that calls for a radical revision of all aspects of psychoanalytic thought. This revised edition incorporates significant new material into the psychobiographical analyses and has been completely updated and rewritten to reflect the development of the authors' viewpoint. The terminology used throughout the book to describe personal worlds of experience has been updated and refined in consonance with this contemporary theoretical perspective. The final chapter summarizes key aspects of this new perspective and offers reflections on the subjective origins of intersubjectivity theory itself.

Subject

• Personality
• Personality > Biography
• Psychoanalysis
• Psychoanalytic Theory
• Psychoanalytic Theory > Biography
• Psychology > Methodology
• Subjectivity

Genre/Form

Biography

Note

• First ed. published 1979.
• Robert D. Stolorow's name appeared first in the earlier edition.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [191]-200) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Ch. 1: Personality theory and subjectivity -- The observer is the observed -- Subjectivity and validity -- The psychology and sociology of knowledge -- Decentering in the genesis of knowledge -- Attempted circumventions of subjectivity -- Behaviorism -- Methodological objectivism -- Phenomenology -- The case study method -- Structures of the subjective world -- Ch. 2: Sigmund Freud -- Ambivalence in Freud's life -- Earliest experiences -- Adult relationships -- the defensive-restitutive function of freud's theories -- summary and conclusions -- ch. 3: Carl Jung -- The subjective world in Jung's theory -- The collective unconscious and archetypes -- self-dissolution -- the disunited men -- Individuation -- The psychological origins of Jung's theory -- The genesis of the secret -- Critical formative experiences -- The subjectivity of jung's theories -- Ch. 4: Wilhelm Reich -- Thematic structure of Reich's works -- Character analysis and orgastic potency -- political thought -- biological research and the treatment of cancer -- Unidentified flying objects -- A pivotal childhood trauma -- Future aspects of Reich's life and thought -- Images of history, civilization, and nature -- Ch. 5: Otto Rank -- Rank's work -- The birth trauma -- The hero -- The double -- The will -- Narcissistic love -- Sexual dread and self-dissolution -- The artist -- Rank's life -- Evidence of narcissistic disturbance -- Childhood traumata -- Reparative trends -- The subjectivity of rank's theories -- Ch. 6: From the subjectivity of theory to a theory of intersubjectivity -- Critiques of psychoanalytic metapsychology -- Metapsychology and the subjective world -- Psychoanalytic phenomenology and the theory of intersubjectivity -- The unconscious -- Analysis of transference -- Metapsychology, metaphysics, and intersubjectivity -- The self -- The mind and the body -- The real -- The subjectivity of intersubjectivity theory

ISBN

1568210507

LCCN

^^^93014932^

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library