Christopher Bollas is one of the most expressive and eloquent exponents
of the ideas, meanings and experience of psychoanalysis currently
writing. He has a real gift for taking the reader into the fine texture
of the psychoanalytic process. Forces of Destiny examines and reflects
on one of the most fundamental questions - what is it that is unique
about us as individuals? How does it manifest itself in our
personalities, our lives, relationships and in the psychoanalytic
process?
Drawing on classical notions of 'fate' and 'destiny' and Winnicott's
idea of the true self, Bollas develops the concept of 'the human idiom'
to explore and show how we work out - both creatively and in the process
of analysis - the 'dialectics of difference'. In particular he reflects
on how the patients may use particular parts of the psychoanalyst's
personality to express their own idiom and destiny drive.
Forces of Destiny was Bollas' second book. His first, The Shadow of
the Object (1987), was described by the reviewer in the International
Journal of Psycho-Analysis as a 'unique and remarkable book. I think of
it as one of the most interesting and important new books on
psychoanalysis which I have read in the last decade.' Forces of
Destiny confirmed his position as one of the most important, thoughtful
and engaging psychoanalytic writers.
With a new preface from Christopher Bollas, Forces of Destiny remains
a classic of psychoanalytic literature, appealing to psychoanalysts as
well as readers in art history, literature, philosophy, and cultural
studies.
