
The Listener
A Psychoanalyst Examines His Life
Allen Wheelis(Author)
WW Norton & Co (Publisher)
Will be published approx. on 1. September 1999
Book
Paperback/Softback
260 pages
978-0-393-33637-5 (ISBN)
Description
The story begins with his parents' life of poverty in rural Texas. When Wheelis was a small boy, his father contracted tuberculosis. He spent several years dying, exercising a tyrannical control over his family. In one searing scene, Wheelis is made to cut the lawn with a razor, a task that occupies every day of his summer. Timidity, insecurity and a cloyingly close connection to his mother mark Wheelis' efforts to establish himself in the adult world. When trying to write a novel as a young man, he falls mysteriously ill. Eventually he realizes that he has "made" himself ill so that his failure to write can be excused. This perception leads him to the study of medicine and eventually psychiatry. As Wheelis turns his explanatory lens on the dark corners of his own life, we come to understand how a gift for analysis--like a gift for prophecy--brings little comfort to its possessor and no guarantee of happiness.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
371 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-393-33637-5 (9780393336375)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Allen Wheelis is a celebrated psychoanalyst and philosopher whose books include How People Change and The Illusionless Man. He lives in San Francisco, California.