The Beast in the Nursery: On Curiosity and Other Appetites

It is easy to miss what seem to me the principal cores of this fine book--in my view, by far Phillips's best: (1) the complex, usually misperceived nature and mismanagement (even, or perhaps especially, in most psychoanalyses) of infantile desire/curiosity, and (2) the restricted validity of articulated, "logical-rational" (Heidegger), propositional thought. Readers already have to be close to realizing for themselves the points Phillips is emphasizing in order to be able to "hear" them. If one is ready to hear it, Phillips's discourse on proto-linguistic realms and their residue in "adult" language is a unique and centrally important gem. Don't miss the core of this book by letting yourself be misled or distracted by its many interesting but peripheral points.

Adam Phillips' book THE BEAST IN THE NURSERY, is a collection of some of most compelling essays on psychoanalysis to be gathered together. His prose makes some of what might seem to be the most opaque ideas about pyschoanalysis appear shockingly lucid. He's a terrific writer and demands that you think for yourself as a reader.

This erudite author becomes even poetic in some of the text, making this book a joy to read. He gives a more positive, ideology-free reading of many of Freud's basic ideas and thoughts. While he does not advocate tossing theory into the wastebasket, he does enjoin the reader to go deeper into psychoanalytical tenets, to think less dogmatically about them, and to realize that theory is only an aid, not a mold into which each analysand must somehow be forced to fit. The reader must be familiar with psychoanalytical writing in order to get the full benefit from the book, however, since the ideas presented assume that the reader understands their background and meaning.

This is a collection of layered and complex writing by a clear and humane thinker -- and a wonderful writer. Phillips ranges widely, and cites inspired references from psychology (including his London practice), philosophy, and literature, and always with distinct purpose. Freud, Hanna Segal, H.G. Wells, Auden, Blake, Marion Milner, John Keats, D.W. Winnicott, and Melanie Klein (among others) are cited in this book, effectively. He's blazingly creative, more subtly political, and good-hearted -- and it shows. The book is a slower read than his earlier ones, but well worth it.