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The Psychoanalysis of Aesthetic Experience

Self, Relationship and Culture

George Hagman

$294

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English
Routledge
28 July 2025
In The Psychoanalysis of Aesthetic Experience: Self, Relationship and Culture, George Hagman eloquently provides an overview of ideas regarding the aesthetic foundation of human experience and the way in which this aesthetic perspective can shed light on human development, culture, and analytic clinical process.

The book discusses the relationship between the psychology of art and the aesthetics of psychoanalytic treatment. Hagman presents a comprehensive psychoanalytic model of the psychology of aesthetics, creativity, beauty, ugliness, and the sublime, as well as a theory of aesthetics across the dimensions of subjectivity, self, intersubjectivity, and culture. Starting from the point of early childhood development, he argues for the importance of exploring the implications of this important psychological phenomenon for clinical practice, highlighting how aesthetics can shed light on a dimension of the psychotherapeutic process that has thus been neglected.

This book is an illuminating and informative read for all psychoanalysts, and anyone interested in the intersection of psychoanalytic practice, aesthetics, creativity, and culture.
By:  
Imprint:   Routledge
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 234mm,  Width: 156mm, 
ISBN:   9781032873978
ISBN 10:   1032873973
Series:   Art, Creativity, and Psychoanalysis Book Series
Pages:   214
Publication Date:  
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Primary ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Foreword by Carl Rotenberg with an addendum by George Hagman Preface with an addendum for expanded edition 1. Introduction 2. Understanding Aesthetic Experience 3. The Development of Aesthetic Experience 4. Idealization and Aesthetic Experience 5. The Creative Process 6. The Sense of Beauty 7. On Ugliness 8. The Sublime 9. Art and Self 10. Art, Creativity and Clinical Process 11. Festival 12. The Musician and the Creative Process 13. Cruising Beauty 14. Hitler's Aesthetics References Subject Index Author Index

George Hagman is a clinical social worker and psychoanalyst in private practice in Stamford, USA. He is on the faculty of the Training and Research in Intersubjective Self Psychology Foundation (TRISP) and the Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. He is the author of Art, Creativity, and Psychoanalysis: Perspectives from Analyst-Artists (2016), Creative Analysis: Art, Creativity and Clinical Process (2014), and The Artist’s Mind: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Creativity, Modern Art and Modern Artists (2010).

Reviews for The Psychoanalysis of Aesthetic Experience: Self, Relationship and Culture

'With starling originality, George Hagman's Psychoanalysis of Aesthetic Experience: Self, Relationship and Culture radically expands psychoanalytic aesthetic theory beyond the great early seminal contributions on art and idealization. He questions prior theories that focused on the pathology of art and artists through his appreciation of the affirmative process of making art, growth and emotional heath. With this new edition he has added several new chapters which extend his ideas into new clinical and cultural areas.’ Malcolm Owen Slavin Ph.D. Co-founder, Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis, Author of The Story of Original Loss: Grieving Existential Trauma in the Arts and the Art of Psychoanalysis. (Routledge). 'In this expanded edition of his brilliant and pathbreaking book Psychoanalysis of Aesthetic Experience: Self, Relationship and Culture, George Hagman now includes fresh and insightful additional essays on the psychology of musicians, the function of beauty in erotic obsession (Kohut and Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice) and the abuse of Beauty in Hitler’s fascist aesthetics. These chapters that open clinical insights into intersubjective and transitional realms, showing how sensitivities to aesthetic meanings and the relation of artists to their artwork can transform the ways we practice psychoanalysis. In the clarity, simplicity and generosity of Hagman’s writing, the reader can always sense his dedication to what Donna Orange calls a “hermeneutics of trust.” It is a delight to be in the presence of such friendly and enlightening discourse.’ Maria D-S. Dobson, Ph.D. Professor of Classics at Colorado College. Private Practice in psychoanalytic psychotherapy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Author of Metamorphoses of Psych in Psychoanalysis and Ancient Greek Thought, 2023 (Routledge). 'Psychoanalysis of Aesthetic Experience: Self, Relationship and Culture is a pivotal psychoanalytic text integrating the fields of aesthetics and creativity into clinical practice. Now in its 2nd edition, George Hagman expands on his definition of art, extends further the application to psychoanalytic treatment, and explores new perspectives on literary and historical investigations. Those who love the arts, or work with artists in their practice, will find this book invaluable.' Carol M. Press, EdD, Emeritus of the Department of Theatre and Dance, University of California, Santa Barbara.


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