R. D. Laing, Conversations with Children

Daniel Burston (Duquesne University); Gavin Miller (University of Glasgow)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Domains

Psychoanalysis

Dates

First circulation or publication 1978

Places

Scotland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Dialogue

Resources

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Conversations with Children

brings together fragments of conversation between Laing and his two children, Adam and Natasha, collected over seven years from 1970 to 1977. Occasionally, the conversations draw in Jutta, Laing's wife at the time, or friends of the children or their parents. There is no consistent theme that these vignettes illustrate, nor is any particular argument apparent in their arrangement (which is simply chronological). Instead, they demonstrate a variety of peculiarities in the emotional, spiritual, and intellectual lives of children.

Some of the dialogues are quite clearly supplied for their psychoanalytic interest. The dialogue of 18 November 1975 centres on Natasha and Adam's expressed desires to marry their parents. The conversation ends with Adam saying to Jutta,

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613 words

Citation: Burston, Daniel, Gavin Miller. "Conversations with Children". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 August 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16843, accessed 18 April 2024.]

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