Uncertain Facts and Certain Fiction

Uncertain Facts and Certain Fictions: Psychic Reality in literature and Psychoanalysis is a collection of Ronald Britton’s papers, written over his distinguished career. Each paper demonstrates his insight and ability to articulate profound links between psychoanalysis and writings from literary, religious, philosophical or scientific spheres.

Human beings think in metaphors and analogies, so literary metaphors often come to mind to both psychoanalysts and their patients. Britton recognised that both analysis and literature share the same fundamental wish to explore our experience and feelings. He saw writers as expressing our ‘models of belief’, which - along with phantasies, memories, dreams and the imagination - form the stuff of human psychic reality and its persistent distortions. In Uncertain Facts and Certain Fictions, he draws on a broad array of texts, from the Old Testament and Enlightenment philosophers to Romantic poets and novelists, each containing insights that prefigure psychoanalytic discoveries. Deftly weaving clinical material throughout, he demonstrates the timeless interconnection between these works and psychoanalytic ideas.

Whether you are a general reader looking to deepen your psychological insight, or a clinician wanting to broaden your professional frame of reference, this book will profoundly reinvigorate your understanding of these complementary disciplines.