The Artist and the Emotional World (Paperback)

~ (Author) "What Do We Mean by "Creativity"?..." (more)
Key Phrases: psychotic art, love affair with the world, creative domain, New York, Art Institute of Chicago, Arshile Gorky (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Artist and the Emotional World is unique as an effort to discern the role of personality in helping or hindering creative production. From over four decades of psychoanalytical practice, Gedo draws on his work with his psychotherapy patients and more than twenty analysands involved in a variety of creative endeavors as well as the biographies of a number of well-known artists, including Mozart, Gauguin, Conrad, Trollope, van Gogh, Goya, Picasso, Gorky, Proust, and many others.
In this unique blending of clinical experience with in-depth biographical study, Gedo examines both the necessary traits that prepare a person for a creative career as well as the emotional vicissitudes of such a career-the psychological issues talented persons must struggle with in order to be creative. He then goes further to discuss crucial developmental experiences that may result in a creative personality-childhood experiences, the strong, possibly negative, effect of a possession of talent on personality, and the influence of opportunities provided by a creator's environment. Gedo also details attributes required of the successful artist, the possible need to separate creativity from psychosis, and the evolution of psychoanalytic views on creativity.

About the Author

John E. Gedo has written extensively about all facets of psychoanalysis, which he practiced for close to four decades in Chicago. His publications included Portraits of the Artist and, with Mary M. Gedo, Perspectives on Creativity: The Biographical Method.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (April 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231078536
• ISBN-13: 978-0231078535
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,355,994 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative, insightful..., February 21, 2008

By	Kathlene Kelly "hermit girl" (planet earth) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Artist and the Emotional World is an insightful and informative text. Written by psychoanalyst John Gedo, the book establishes the necessary framework for a comprehensive study of the connection between creativity and psychiatric illness. Gedo's examination opens with a chapter about something I originally considered to be something of a busy-work tactic - the dissection of the structure of creativity. After consideration however, I came to realize that a clear illustration of the creativity as an organism needed to be established before in-depth dialogue could take place. The analysis Gedo offers provides a common-ground jumping point from which to begin the examination. Most effective among his hypotheses is his adoption of the George Klein model of "vital pleasures" which are considered to motivate all sentient beings. Klein called one of these pleasures "effectance" and defined it as "the joy to be had through the sheer exercise of competence." (Gedo, 9) Gedo takes the Klein model further by noting that his clinical experiences had shown that accomplishment drew patients further into continued expression which relieved certain of the negative stimuli demonstrated in psychosis. From this experience Gedo determined that the mentally ill artist who received relief from pressing psychological conflict and an increase in happiness (no matter the duration or intensity) experienced an increase in self-esteem. The significance of such an effect can be seen against the relief of discrimination and misunderstanding that accompanies a cultural world-view of psychic illness, its causes and the persons who must wade through its challenges.

I did not anticipate enjoying this book at the outset and was happily through more than 132 pages before I realized I didn't hate it. I have been given a clearer understanding of exactly what it is I am searching for - a deeper relationship with creativity rather than a concise definition of it.