Solitude: A Return to the Self - Softcover

Storr, Anthony

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0743280741 ISBN 13: 9780743280747

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2005

Synopsis

Originally published in 1988, Anthony Storr's bestselling meditation on the creative individual's need for solitude has become a classic.

A pre-eminent work in self-help and popular psychology literature, Solitude was seminal in challenging the psychological paradigm that "interpersonal relationships of an intimate kind are the chief, if not the only, source of human happiness." Indeed, most self-help literature still places relationships at the center of human existence. Lucid and lyrical, Storr's book argues that solitude ranks alongside relationships in its impact on an individual's well-being and productivity, as well as on society's progress and health. Citing numerous examples of brilliant scholars and artists--from Beethoven and Kant to Anne Sexton and Beatrix Potter--he argues that solitary activity is essential not only for geniuses, but often for the average person as well. For nearly three decades, readers have found inspiration and renewal in Storr's erudite, compassionate vision of the human experience--and the benefits and joy of solitude.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

In this brilliant and acclaimed book, the eminent psychiatrist Dr Anthony Storr challenges the widely held view that success in personal relationships is the only key to happiness. He argues persuasively that we pay far too little attention to some of the other great satisfactions of life – work and creativity. In a series of skilful biographical sketches, among them Beethoven, Henry James, Goya, Wittgenstein, Kipling and Beatrix Potter, he demonstrates how many of the creative geniuses of our civilisation have been solitary, by temperament of circumstance, and how the capacity to be alone is, even for those who are not creative, a sign of maturity.

'This book brings excellent news for those who, whatever their reasons for doing so, live alone... It is heartening to find a psychiatrist of Dr Storr's eminence diverging from the received wisdom'.
ANITA BROOKNER,' Spectator'

'This is a short book, but so rich in ideas, and presented with such a telling combination of gentleness and authority, that it is also exceptionally absorbing and thought-provoking'.
CLAIRE TOMALIN,' Observer'

'Storr is an incapable of writing an uninteresting paragraph'.
NORMAN STONE,' Sunday Times'

'This is an important, even revolutionary book. If it saves naturally non-sociable people from anxiety about ‘not belonging’ and enables them to come to terms with their solitude it will have done a notable human service'.
ERIC CHRISTIANSEN,' Independent'

About the Author:

Anthony Storr was a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and an Emeritus Fellow of Green College, Oxford. He was the author of numerous books, including The Integrity of the Personality, The Dynamics of Creation, The Essential Jung, and The Art of Psychotherapy. Dr. Storr died in 2001.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0743280741
• ISBN 13: 9780743280747
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240