Research Catalog

Title

Making death thinkable : a psychoanalytic contribution to the problem of the transience of life / Franco De Masi ; foreword by Paul Williams ; editorial consultant, Anthony Molino ; translated by Pina Antinucci.

Author

De Masi, Franco.

Publication

[London] : Free Association Books, 2004.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

157 p.; 24 cm.

Summary

"Man's perception of the finite nature of life is always present, resulting in anxieties of varying intensity, depending on the person's character and on the phases of life he or she is going through. De Masi is aware of the philosophical, sociological, religious or mystical approaches to the problem of death, however he chooses to focus on, and remain within, the theoretical frame of reference of psychoanalysis. He explores how different psychoanalytic theories have addressed the issue of death, its presence or absence in the unconscious, as well as the implications of the theories of the death instinct on a more strictly clinical and technical level." "Moreover, De Masi is interested in thinking about the psychological resources available to man, to make death thinkable, when its inevitable occurrence needs to be faced. He is concerned with the transformation of the thought of death, from an unthinkable catastrophic event, to a natural conclusion of one's existence." "As a psychoanalyst, he explores the quality of the anxiety accompanying the idea of the natural occurrence of death, which, however, is a perturbing presence to the mind of the average person of our Western civilization."--BOOK JACKET.

Uniform Title

Limite dell'esistenza. English

Alternative Title

Limite dell'esistenza.

Subject

• Death > Psychological aspects
• Psychoanalysis
• Attitude to Death
• Psychoanalytic Theory
• Self Concept
• Psychoanalysis

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 150-155) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Foreword to English edition / Paul Williams -- Foreword / Sergio Bordi -- 1. On transience -- 2. The denial of time and the myth of immortality -- 3. Panic attack or imaginary death -- 4. Psychic strategies towards self-annihilation -- 5. Fear or serenity? -- 6. Potential self and absence of future -- 7. A higher level of consciousness -- 8. Ivan I'Lic's death -- 9. The mid-life crisis -- 10. Psychoanalysis in old age -- 11. Death and psychosis -- 12. An unthinkable event -- 13. Death : what reparation? -- 14. The denial of death -- 15. The problem of mourning -- 16. The death instinct -- 17. Melanie Klein and innate destructiveness.

ISBN

1853437832 (pbk.)

LCCN

^^2005360279

OCLC

56441660

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library