A missed encounter: Raymond Williams and psychoanalysis

Abstract

Raymond Williams was perhaps the foremost cultural critic in Britain of the post-war period. Yet his work retained a consistent hostility towards what has become a central component of our understanding of the social construction of the subject - the theory of psychoanalysis. This essay traces the terms of William's hostility towards psychoanalysis and argues that most of this was the product of a missed encounter with psychoanalysis. It is argued that this missed encounter is all the more surprising given the interest in psychoanalysis shown by predecessors of Williams such as Herbert Read, Alick West and Christopher Caudwell.

Opsomming

Raymond Williams was miskien die belangrikste kulturele kritikus van die na-oorlogse periode. Tog het sy werk 'n volgehoue vyandigheid gehandhaaf teenoor dit wat 'n sentrale komponent van ons begrip van die sosiale konstruksie van die subjek geword het - die teorie van psigoanalise. Hierdie opstel spoor die terme van Williams se afkeer van psigoanalise na en argumenteer dat dit grotendeels toegeskryf kan word aan 'n versuimde ontmoeting met psigoanalise. Daar word geargumenteer dat hierdie verspeelde ontmoeting des te verbasender is as die belangstelling in psigoanalise deur Williams se voorgangers soos Herbert Read, Alick West en Christopher Caudwell in aanmerking geneem word.