In Defence of Leisure: Experiments in Living with Marion Milner

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Two women ninety years apart ask themselves the same question- What is the difference between living, and feeling truly alive The celebrated psychoanalyst Marion Milner lived for the entirety of the twentieth century. By the age of ninety-eight she had written nine books revealing how free time and creativity are vital for a fulfilled life. Akshi Singh was born ninety years after Milner, in Rajasthan, over four thousand miles away from where Milner lived and worked. At first glance, the worlds of these two women seem entirely separate. Yet when Singh found herself standing at a crossroads in her life and grieving personal loss, she realised the questions and preoccupations Milner was exploring were her own. In Defence of Leisure presents Marion Milner as a writer for our times. In asking the simple question- how do I want to spend my free time Milner developed a method for discovering her true likes and dislikes. As Singh follows Milner's approach - from keeping a diary to painting, building a home and travelling to the sea - she discovers the importance of rest, creativity and play in all of our lives, and how it can open the door to achieving what we truly desire.

Author Bio

Akshi Singh is an Associate Editor at Parapraxis and Deputy Editor at Critical Quarterly. She moved to the UK from India to study for a PhD on psychoanalysis and literature with Jacqueline Rose. She is the editor of a special collection of Critical Quarterly presenting new writing on Marion Milner. She collaborates regularly with the Derek Jarman lab, and writes for the London Review of Books. She is training to be a psychoanalyst at the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research.