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Broken fathers / broken sons : a psychoanalyst remembers PDF

160 Pages·2008·2.997 MB·English
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Broken Fathers/Broken Sons Broken Fathers/Broken Sons A Psychoanalyst Remembers Gerald J. Gargiulo Amsterdam - New York, NY 2008 Contemporary Psychoanalytic Studies—Volume 7 © Cover photo of the author: Renate Pfleiderer The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of “ISO 9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents - Requirements for permanence”. ISBN: 978-90-420-2344-4 ©Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2008 Printed in the Netherlands Contents Preface VII Remembering Humpty 3 Carmelite Passage 23 Finding a Voice 40 Mother Earth 55 Talking Memories 64 Running 76 Interlude (Of Elephants and Kings) 79 Bridges 81 Holding Dreams 93 Dancing with God 100 The Dreaming Knight 106 Grieving Lilacs 114 Finding My Father 126 Memory and Time 131 End Thoughts 136 Epilogue 139 Appendix (Poems For Late Night Reading) 141 Preface Memory, as we know, is not our most reliable friend. Mem- oirs are made of memories, so there is something inevitably selec- tive in any recall, since memory is a child of desire. All anyone can do, I believe, is to bring as much honesty to one’s recounting as one is capable of. This memoir is a story of loss and gain, of alienation and reconciliation and of how such experiences go into the making of a psychoanalyst and the type of therapy one conse- quently offers. I have avoided, whenever possible, using any psy- chological and/or psychoanalytic jargon - it’s the enemy of candor. I have tried to convey a small aspect of the human condition, some- thing of the pain and joy we experience in merely living. In sharing my own very troubled father/son/family history, my decade as a Carmel- ite monk, my marriage and career as a psychotherapist /psychoanalyst, I hope to show how the diverse pieces of one’s life can fit together, if all goes well, into something that is meaningful and real. This is one person’s life - but not exclusively so. We are bound together, each of us, in our living, our troubles and our joys. As we hear another’s story, we are, simultaneously, writing our own autobiography. How else can we come to know who we are? I want to thank Ms. Sarah O’Brien for her dedication, patience, and expertise in formatting this book. I am grateful to Mr. Edmund Stoecklein for his technical computer guidance. I owe a particular debt of appreciation to my colleague, Dr. Jon Mills of Toronto, for his commitment to publishing this memoir. The novelist/essayist Erika Duncan has been a constant source of encouragement and invaluable advice. Finally, my deepest appreciation goes to my wife Julia whose guidance, editorial assistance, and loving critiques are the foundations upon which this short work is built. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; And all the king’s horses, And all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty together again. —Old English Rhyme

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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.