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American Literature and Therapeutic Cultures

American Literature and Therapeutic Cultures

Hardcover

Literary Criticism

ISBN10: 1399551329
ISBN13: 9781399551328
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Published: Jan 31 2026
Pages: 256
Weight: 1.18
Height: 0.63 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
This volume explores the myriad interactions between American literature and psychological discourses in the United States, from self-help to alternative health practices to psychotherapeutic approaches. Spanning the 1940s to the 2020s, it sheds light on the development and conceptualization of therapeutic culture during a century in which it has oscillated between clinical and cultural domains. Bringing together an intergenerational group of scholars from France, the UK and the US, the collection examines authors as varied as William Carlos Williams, Lionel Trilling, Sylvia Plath, Philip Roth, Colson Whitehead, Daniel Suarez and Ottessa Moshfegh. Moving beyond the conventional focus on psychoanalysis, the eleven contributors foreground how American literature is animated by broader therapeutic modes and trajectories. At stake are not only literature's historical links to psychological theories and institutions, but the neoliberal framing of literary texts as tools for personal restoration.

Also from

Manning, Nicholas

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Literary Criticism