Rage (Disseminations: Psychoanalysis in Contexts) [Paperback]

Michael Eigen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 26, 2002 | Series: Disseminations: Psychoanalysis in Contexts

Rage permeates every aspect of our lives. In this thoughtful series of case studies, Michael Eigen shows the ways in which rage is integral to human existence. Along the way, he explores the role of rage in art, religion and contemporary culture; his far-reaching examples range from "the murderous art" of Shakespeare to road rage to the wrath of God in the Old Testament to a consideration of the events of September 11, 2001. Eigen writes that "rage more than most states affords a sense of totality, experiencing one's being with all one's might." Eigen's breadth of cultural knowledge, combined with his respect for and attention to the individuality of a person, come together in providing the reader with a complex account of rage -- what it is, where it comes from and what we should do with it. This is a useful book for therapists and laypeople alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Blessed Order for Rage Malignant rage, mischievous rage, moral rage. New York University psychology professor Michael Eigen (Ecstasy) offers a taxonomy of anger in his appropriately titled Rage. Eigen looks to the Bible, Sophocles, modern geopolitics and, most of all, case studies from his own practice to examine why wrath, in its many forms, has been such a vital and driving force through human history. Eigen's lyrical, meandering, open-ended style ("Congealed hate and fear, trauma corpses that never let go, a sickly tail one drags through the center of one's being. What have I done with it?") is not for everyone, but he does manage to identify some of the subtle, complicated ways that rage makes itself felt in people's lives. (Oct.)
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Dramatically memorable and emotionally powerful. Eigen has reclaimed the significance of rage and its centrality to the human psyche." (Walter A. Davis, author of Deracination: Historicity, Hiroshima, and the Tragic Imperative )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Wesleyan; 1st edition (November 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0819565865
• ISBN-13: 978-0819565860
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #321,519 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In Touch with Rage, November 26, 2002

By 

Corbett Williams (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rage (Disseminations: Psychoanalysis in Contexts) (Paperback)

If you are searching for insight into the darkness of rage, this book is a light source. It comes at a time when it is most needed. The headlines are filled with talk of terror, evil and war. There is outrage of all kinds and at many things. No matter what we think of any of this talk, it is easy to feel and voice rage about some aspect of what is happening in our world -- even if it is just about the talk itself.

In story after story Mike Eigen lucidly describes how it shows up in lives and how great a struggle it is to keep rage from destroying them. This work neither fuels rage nor explains it away. Nor does it drift into grieving or despair or hope. Rage is the authors homing signal and he stays on track throughout the work. He leaves the reader with no sense that rage is something that can be transcended or ignored. He brings rage close to you, so you, as he has, can come away with a sense that it is possible to be near rage and to still learn and grow without being consumed in the process.

The final chapter was written after 9-11, an event that gives rage a significance that is impossible to ignore. The aftershocks from this event still touch the lives of many people around the world and they have not stopped. These last words, written after this world-changing tragedy, evoke tears for all of us. Tears can be necessary and appropriate but they are no substitute for listening to what Mike Eigen can share from his first hand experience.