Writer's Block

Library Journal

This is a weighty, somewhat dense psychoanalytic literary/historical study of what Leader (English, Roehampton Inst., London) states is a commonly misunderstood phenomenon. He leaves no stone unturned in his search for literary and psychological explanations for writer's block, often examining the sources of creativity as well as the forces that obstruct it. He critiques Freudian, Jungian, Rankian, Kleinian, and post-Kleinian theory on blockage, then brings psychoanalytic theory to bear on literary history, emphasizing the tradition of romantic self-consciousness in Wordsworth and Coleridge. Leader also examines the communicative oppositions between writing and orality, subject and object, and ``male'' and ``female.'' Worthwhile and recommended for large psychoanalytic collections.-- Terry McMaster, Utica Coll. of Syracuse Univ. Lib., N.Y.

Booknews

Leader (English, Roehampton Institute, London) ranges deeply into literary history and widely across psychology, philosophy and critical theory to study a phenomenon that is frequently experienced and much talked about, but very imperfectly understood. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)