A Psychoanalytic Reading of A Monster Calls: Biblical Congruencies and Theological Implications
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, i...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer Science Business Media B. V.
[2017]
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| In: |
Pastoral psychology
Year: 2017, Volume: 66, Issue: 6, Pages: 759-777 |
| IxTheo Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture HC New Testament ZD Psychology |
| Further subjects: | B
Paradox
B Fred Rogers B Wishes B EMOTIONS (Psychology) B Dreams B Ambivalence B NESS, Patrick, 1971- B Sigmund Freud B Psychoanalysis B FICTION & psychology B Patrick Ness B Stories B MONSTER Calls, A (Book) B Cancer |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | 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. |
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| ISSN: | 1573-6679 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Pastoral psychology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s11089-017-0777-x |