RT Article
T1 A Psychoanalytic Reading of A Monster Calls: Biblical Congruencies and Theological Implications
JF Pastoral psychology
VO 66
IS 6
SP 759
OP 777
A1 Carlin, Nathan
LA English
PB Springer Science Business Media B. V.
YR 2017
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1565839382
AB This essay offers a psychoanalytic reading of Patrick Ness's A Monster Calls, an award-winning novel (which recently has been made into a film) about a 13-year-old boy whose mother is dying of cancer. I use Sigmund Freud's 'On Dreams' to interpret several scenes from the novel, interspersed with lessons from the life of Jesus. I argue that such a reading can help persons of all ages take the emotional lives of teenagers more seriously, specifically by witnessing the depth and complexity of ambivalence as represented in the novel. Also, an important feature in the novel (and a vital congruence between psychoanalysis and the teachings of Jesus) is the transformation of emotional ambivalence into paradoxical truth.
K1 Ambivalence
K1 Cancer
K1 Dreams
K1 EMOTIONS (Psychology)
K1 FICTION & psychology
K1 Fred Rogers
K1 MONSTER Calls, A (Book)
K1 NESS, Patrick, 1971-
K1 Paradox
K1 Patrick Ness
K1 Psychoanalysis
K1 Sigmund Freud
K1 Stories
K1 Wishes
DO 10.1007/s11089-017-0777-x