A Psychoanalytic Quintet of Exile and Trauma
The Fictional Authenticity of a Troubled Mind
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published:10th Nov '26
£171.99
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This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£36.99(9781041374930)
A Psychoanalytic Quintet of Exile and Trauma is an exploration of trauma, exile, and the transformative power of storytelling through the lens of psychoanalytic theory.
Structured as a triptych, the book follows Adam, a man navigating the emotional landscapes of displacement and inherited grief. Drawing on concepts such as Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok’s "crypt" theory, Melanie Klein’s "depressive position", and Donald Winnicott’s "potential space", the narrative intertwines clinical theory with "fictional authenticity". Adam’s journey unfolds through fragmented memories, journal entries, and moments of psychological collapse, ultimately revealing how trauma can be symbolized rather than erased. The act of writing becomes a therapeutic gesture, transforming ancestral silence into a coherent narrative of self-repair and resilience.
This book is an essential resource for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and scholars in trauma studies and the humanities, offering a nuanced perspective on transgenerational trauma and the unconscious. It will also resonate with social scientists, narrative researchers, and students of clinical literature seeking to explore the intersection of storytelling and therapeutic practice. With its international appeal, the work bridges academic discourse and creative testimony, making it a valuable addition to university courses and professional libraries alike.
"A truly authentic essay in a professional field such as psychotherapy ought to convey an overall process that evokes a definite sense of familiarity, of clinical accuracy. And it requires a skilled psychotherapist and talented artist to transport the reader deeply into the tense, often paradoxical and time-twisted experience of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Rony Alfandary has achieved his goal.
Trauma can be defined by the capacity of the mind to catch certain stimuli, even the apparent absence of stimuli (e.g., whereabouts during a war, who is the real object of one’s desire), within a sturdy-and-fine enough psychic net or webbing. Contemporary research supports the notion that the idea of boundaries is much overrated, useful primarily in highly artificial circumstances, and that the notion of thresholds, transitional zones, and liminal areas offers a much more phenomenologically accurate characterization of the shades of human experience.
Alfandary lays out a double-level structure in order to frame the years that will unfold and overlap before the reader: a tryptic and a quintet. On the surface level, the tryptic dimension refers to the visuo-graphic materials such as letters, photos, documents, and geographical planes that provide the documentary aspect of the unfolding drama, while the quintet dimension alludes to the classic 5-person musical arrangement or the 5 basic chapters (Alfandary refers to these as “movements”) of Adam’s uncovering of his family’s transgenerational traumas."
Moshe Halevi Spero, M.S.S.W., Ph.D., Emeritus Professor, Psychology, Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work
"A Psychoanalytic Quintet of Exile and Trauma is a deeply humane work that transforms inherited pain into a pathway toward healing. Alfandary weaves psychoanalysis and fiction into an original testament to the resilience of the human spirit. For individuals and communities carrying the silent weight of exile, displacement, and generational trauma, this book is a profound gift. It illuminates the grief passed down through families while charting a journey toward self-understanding and the possibility that what was broken can be made new."
Constance Scharff, PhD, founder and principal investigator for The Human Resilience Project
ISBN: 9781041374947
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 500g
162 pages