Psychiatric Poetry
LAING, R.D. Knots. New York: Pantheon Books. 1970.
8vo. Original black cloth with silver title lettering to spine; black and orange dust jacket with photograph of author to front wrapper; pp. [6], 90; fine.
First US Edition; signed and inscribed by Laing, "To Michael and Anne/from Ronnie/March 1970".
"The patterns denineated here have not yet been classified by a Linnaeus of humsn bondage. They are all, perhaps, strangely familiar".
Continually testing the limits of orthodox psychiatry, in Knots, R.D. Laing continues to explore themes dominant in his work since 1958 with a particular emphasis on the origins of mental disorder within the family and the instability of human connection through the use of poetry and 'script'.
Knots is a book intensely distinguishable from Laing's other works due to his preference for verse; employing a more intimate art form to convey authoritative psychological analyses of experience, in the place of "raw data".These intensely personal 'dialogues' could be interpreted as scenarios between parents and children, between therapists and patients or amalgamations of both and more yet, crucially, each situaiton is a demonstration of Laing's unique insight into the fragility and power of relationships and how they so profoundly inform our personalities and mental states.
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