In Conversation with D M Thomas: The Novelist and the Therapist

Subtitle

Novelist and the therapist, The

Synopsis

D M Thomas, author of ‘The White Hotel’, talks to Michael Jacobs. The novel is about one of Freud’s patients and combines the themes of love and death. The book raises questions about the relationship between writing and therapy, about the nature of Freudian thought, and about the status of storytelling both in psychotherapy and counselling. In this conversation D M Thomas talks about himself and his writing, as well as about a poet’s and novelist’s view of psychoanalysis, myth and personal history. In three parts:
1: Mystery and death; myth as healing; psychoanalysis as myth; the J F Kennedy myth; the death instinct; love and death in ‘The White Hotel’.
2: Meaning and life after death; psychoanalysis and creativity; the dream self and the writer’s unconscious; what makes a writer.
3: The therapy relationship and the writer/reader relationship; views about Jung and symbols; writing poetry; Thomas reads his poem ‘Ghost House’.

Series

In Conversation with..., Series

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Video; Videocassette. Standard formats. col. 59 min.

Year of production

1996

Availability

Sale; 1997 sale: £49.95 (inclusive) 1997 sale: £200.00 (inclusive) set of 5

Subjects

English language and literature; Psychiatry

Keywords

Fiction in English; Freud, Sigmund; psychoanalysis; Thomas, D M; writers

Credits

Cast

D M Thomas
Michael Jacobs

Sponsor

Name

University of Leicester, Department of Adult Education

Distributor

Name

University of Leicester, Audio Visual Services

Web

http://www.le.ac.uk/avs External site opens in new window

Phone

0116 252 2917

Fax

0116 252 3993

Address

PO Box 138
University Road
Leicester
LE1 9HN