The Good Story, J. M. Coetzee
The Good Story, J. M. Coetzee
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The Good Story
Exchanges on Truth, Fiction and Psychotherapy

Author: J. M. Coetzee, Arabella Kurtz

Narrator: Jeff Cummings, Sandra Burr

Unabridged: 5 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/29/2015


Synopsis

A fascinating dialogue on the human desire to make up stories between Nobel Prize–winning author J. M. Coetzee and psychotherapist Arabella KurtzThe Good Story is an exchange between a writer with a long-standing interest in moral psychology and a psychotherapist with training in literary studies. Coetzee and Kurtz consider psychotherapy and its wider social context from different perspectives, but at the heart of both their approaches is a fascination with narrative. Working alone, the writer is in control of the story he or she tells. The therapist, on the other hand, collaborates with the patient in telling the story that might reveal the “truth.”The authors discuss both individual psychology and the psychology of the group: the school classroom, the gang, the settler nation in which the brutal deeds of the ancestors must be accommodated into a national story. In a meeting of the minds that is illuminating, surprising, and thought provoking, Coetzee and Kurtz explore the human capacity for self-examination—our attempts to understand our own individual life stories as well as our part in the larger story through language.

About J. M. Coetzee

J. M. Coetzee was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003. His work includes Waiting for the Barbarians, Life & Times of Michael K, Boyhood, Youth, Disgrace, Summertime, and The Childhood of Jesus. He was the first author to win the Booker Prize twice. He lives in Australia.

About Arabella Kurtz

Arabella Kurtz is a consultant clinical psychologist and is completing psychoanalytic psychotherapy training at the Tavistock Clinic in London. She has held various posts in adult and forensic mental health services in the British National Health Service, and is currently a senior clinical tutor in the University of Leicester clinical psychology training course.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Eylül on August 04, 2024

"Kurmacalarla rahat rahat ve baştan sona ayakta kalan birinin hayatından, alenen romana benzeyen bir roman çıkarmak zor ve belki imkânsız hatta. Bu kurmacaları ifşa ederek roman yapıyoruz ancak. Bir tür olarak romanın, şeylerin göründüğü gibi olmadığı, görünürdeki hayatlarımızın gerçek hayatlarımız......more

Goodreads review by Cristina on May 11, 2020

A fost prima carte despre psihanaliză pe care am citit-o după o perioadă de pauză de vreo doi ani. Majoritatea termenilor mi-au rămas familiari, însă subiectele dezbătute de Coetzee și Kurtz au fost unele inedite, probleme pe care nu mi le-am pus niciodată din perspectiva prezentată. În primul rând,......more

Goodreads review by Russell on June 05, 2015

good snippets on psychoanalysis here and there from Kurtz. I genuinely appreciated her role in this novel as she brought the discussion back to utilitarian workings of the therapist in discussion with Coetzee's... things. perhaps I do not appreciate Coetzee's style of writing, but throughout this exc......more

Goodreads review by Mariano on January 08, 2016

Me puede mi afán de completismo con el ilustre escritor sudafricano (ahora australiano). Y más en un libro formado por conversaciones del autor con la psicoanalista Arabella Kurtz donde se ahonda sobre todo en el método psicoanalítico y su relación con la literatura y la propia vida. Me suele aburri......more

Goodreads review by Kent on December 24, 2015

I'm constantly fascinated by how story and narrative play out in how we live and construct our lives and this issue becomes more fascinating when you insert fiction into the mix. Coetzee brings his experience as a fiction writer and a teacher to the conversation to contrast with Kurtz's clinical per......more