In Defence of Leisure

Experiments in Living with Marion Milner

Akshi Singh

$36.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

QTY:

English

Jonathan Cape Ltd
29 May 2025

Biography: general; Memoirs; Sociology: sport & leisure; Psychoanalytical theory (Freudian psychology)

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 invented new ways of thinking about leisure. A hundred years on, Akshi Singh follows her methods, with life-changing consequences.

'Illuminating and thought-provoking' Darian Leader

'Astounding, generous, and quietly exhilarating' Daisy LaFarge

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 to 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.

'An exquisite, open-hearted celebration of desire, friendship and lives imaginatively lived' Marianne Brooker, author of Intervals

'Singh's verve and intelligence radiate from every page' Hannah Zeavin

By: Akshi Singh
Imprint: Jonathan Cape Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 137mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 259g
ISBN: 9781787335066
ISBN 10: 1787335062
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 29 May 2025
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Akshi Singh is an associate editor at Parapraxis and deputy editor at Critical Quarterly, and 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. Singh moved to the UK from India to study for a PhD in psychoanalysis and literature with Jacqueline Rose. She is currently training to be a psychoanalyst at the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research.

Reviews for In Defence of Leisure: Experiments in Living with Marion Milner

This poetic, graceful and original book not only demonstrates the richness and relevance of Marion Milner's work today but also offers many insights into the choices we make - or fail to - in love, leisure and work. Singh helps us to understand how we inhabit our lives, and how we can start thinking about inhabiting them differently. An illuminating and thought-provoking book that will appeal to a very wide audience -- Darian Leader, author of Is It Ever Just Sex?