Unforbidden Pleasures

(Paperback)

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Description

Elegantly exploring the meaning and significance of the Unforbidden, from Genesis to Oscar Wilde to Freud and his fellow writers, Unforbidden Pleasures examines the philosophical, psychological and social dilemmas that govern our desire and shape us. We frequently talk about forbidden pleasures. But why do we rarely discuss pleasures we take for granted We worry over the things we deny ourselves while paying little attention to our real enjoyment of available pleasures. But in neglecting what we have in favour of what we don't, asks Adam Phillips, are we not denying ourselves the very joys within our grasp Elegantly exploring the meaning and significance of the Unforbidden, from Genesis to Oscar Wilde to Freud and his fellow writers, Unforbidden Pleasures examines the philosophical, psychological and social dilemmas that govern our desire and shape us.

Reviews

The most interestingly subversive meditation on modern life I have read for many years... Phillips ranges over a wide field, including reflections on Hamlet and the tyrannical power of conscience. Elegant, forceful and rich in insight, this is a book that can be read again and again * New Statesman - Books of the Year 2015 *
The best living essayist writing in English
[A] playfully digressive style... He is the finest living decipherer of affective life [and] the Bob Dylan of psychoanalysis * Daily Telegraph *
There is a lot of philosophy and psychoanalysis packed into these 200 pages * Radar *
Adam Phillips is single-handedly continuing the tradition of the world's best essayists * Observer *
He's brilliant
Phillips radiates infectious charm * Sunday Times *
Publisher's description. Adam Phillips elegantly unfolds the concept of the 'unforbidden', from the Old Testament to Freud and beyond, exploring the philosophical, psychological and social complexities that govern human desire and shape our reality. * Penguin *

Author Bio

Adam Phillips was born in Cardiff in 1954. He is the author of numerous works of psychotherapy and literary criticism, including Winnicott, On Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored, Going Sane, Side Effects, On Kindness, co-written with Barbara Taylor, On Balance, Missing Out, One Way and Another and Becoming Freud. Adam Phillips is a practising psychoanalyst and a visiting professor in the English department at the University of York. He writes regularly for the London Review of Books, the Observer and the New York Times, and he is General Editor of the Penguin Modern Classics Freud translations.