I Have Heard the Mermaids Singing

Christopher Bollas's second very personal, fictionalized account of the current state of psychoanalysis and of the deadly elements inherent in mass movements (following "Dark at the End of the Tunnel") cooks up a complex brew of laughter, sympathy, and unease: laughter, because the novella portrays a character who, despite his wisdom and seriousness, can spy the antic in the midst of tragedy; sympathy because any reader familiar with contemporary psychoanalytic controversies, world events, and the capacity for self questioning, can place himself in the protagonist's shoes; and unease because the book captures a prevailing fantasy of impending (and current) worldwide catastrophe. But set against the elements of darkness is Bollas's faith that individual men and women, while being hijacked by social and cultural forces beyond their control, are at the same time creators of their own destinies. While some readers may be made uncomfortable by Bollas's srikingly expressed views of the psychoanalytic profession, all readers will be confronted by a fertile, intelligent, and funny mind at work.

Anyone concerned about the relentless attacks on psychoanalysis as a mode of thinking will learn a great deal from I Have Heard the Mermaids Sing. In using the form of a novella, Christopher Bollas gives us a glimpse of what it feels like to be a psychoanalyst at the dawn of the twenty first century. He effectively punctures the myth of the analyst as arbitor of reality or member of a cult. Because we experience the world from the perspective of "the psychoanalyst," we get a glimpse of the inner workings of an active mind as the analyst attempts to find the unconscious meaning of his patient's discourse. Most readers will find I Have Heard The Mermaids Singing funny, thoughtful, provocative and challenging. Bollas's psychoanalyst speaks forcefully about depression, the aftermath of the "catastrophe [9/11?]" and the unremitttting attack on imagination and the inner life that defines the contemporary ethos. While these are serious topics, the adventures and misadventures of the psychoanalyst provide comic relief. This novella is a pleasure to read -it defends psychoanalysis, develops a complex and rich theory of depression but never takes itself too seriously even as it deals with the most vexing problems of our era.

"I Have Heard The Mermaids Singing" is a truly remarkable book about a character who works as a psychoanalyst. We are allowed to follow his life both from behind the couch and in his private life, which is a surprising and pleasant way of meeting with Bollas' profound and creative thinking. This book made me both laugh in recognition about what it is like to be a human being and think for a long time afterwards about the profoundness in the character's thoughts. Beautifully written, the richness of the thoughts in the book has made me return to this book several times, and also to read out passages from it aloud, both to psychoanalysts and people not working in the field, and they could all share the joy of Bollas' outstanding writing. Above all, this book is another excellent example of Bollas' creative ways of living with independent psychoanalytic thinking, something I find fundamentally important in these times of psychoanalysis in crisis. X

Like a dream, Mermaid weaves an unpredictable course along the fuzzy border between psychic reality and the powerful pressures of group life. Anyone who reads this book encounters Bollas's song, a song which, if allowed, will disrupt the reader's internal sea. Those who listen will find that unlike most investigations into the troubled waters of psychoanalysis, this book introduces corruption within psychoanalytic institutions, psychoanalytic technique, and the practices of even the most well meaning practitioners, using the medium of fiction rather than the hard hitting and ostensibly straight forward style of theoretical writing. By using this medium, Bollas offers readers a new way of grappling with the dark regions of psychotherapy, group existence, and private corruption. Through the voice of characters and use of humor, Bollas shakes and loosens our unconscious, inviting the reader to dream one's own solutions and insights into traumatic areas of the human condition. For those interested in developing new dimensions of social consciousness and contact with unconscious life, I highly recommend this book.