How to Live. What To Do.

More about the book

What can Alice in Wonderland teach us about childhood? Can reading Conversations with Friends guide us through first love? Does Esther Greenwood’s rise and fall in The Bell Jar illuminate ambition? And what insights about death can we glean from Virginia Woolf? Literature is significant; it offers escapism and entertainment while reflecting our lives, revealing aspects of ourselves we may not fully understand. Through fiction, our inner experiences—jealousy, grief, love, and hatred—become both stranger and more familiar. Josh Cohen, a psychoanalyst and Professor of Modern Literary Theory, explores the inner lives of memorable literary characters. His analysis of figures like Jay Gatsby and Mrs. Dalloway provides insights into profound questions about the human experience. He guides us through various life stages, from childhood to old age, illustrating that literature transcends mere refuge from daily life. It can teach us to be wiser, more open, and self-aware through the experiences of its characters. Josh Cohen is a Professor at Goldsmiths, University of London, and a psychoanalyst in private practice, with a body of work that includes books and articles on modern literature, cultural theory, and psychoanalysis.