{"product_id":"the-creative-self-beyond-individualism-paperback","title":"The Creative Self: Beyond Individualism - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMari Ruti\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eGail M. Newman\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Be the best you can be!\" Practically from the moment we are born, we are taught to optimize our lives--to devote ourselves to increasing our productivity and efficiency, which, we are told, will make us happier and more successful. The imperative of constant self-improvement, however, drains us dry even as it promises to build us up. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Creative Self\u003c\/i\u003e delves into the hegemony of neoliberal self-optimization and turns to psychoanalysis in search of an alternative. In paired chapters, Mari Ruti and Gail M. Newman examine the works of the psychoanalysts Marion Milner and Donald W. Winnicott. They provide deeply personal accounts of how these thinkers resonate with day-to-day life, exploring modes of selfhood that subtly but profoundly resist the lure and escape the trap of competitive individualism. Milner urges us to relinquish the ego in the face of loss and lack, and Winnicott asks us to accept the paradoxes of the self instead of demanding their resolution. Together, their insights help us flourish where neoliberal self-improvement would stifle us. Combining the intellectual, the personal, and the political from two perspectives that converge and diverge in striking ways, this book offers an antidote to transactional individualism and envisions forms of creative living beyond its confines.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMari Ruti (1964-2023) was Distinguished Professor of Critical Theory and of Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Toronto. A leading interdisciplinary theorist, she wrote many books, including \u003ci\u003eThe Call of Character: Living a Life Worth Living\u003c\/i\u003e (Columbia, 2013) and \u003ci\u003ePenis Envy and Other Bad Feelings: The Emotional Costs of Everyday Life\u003c\/i\u003e (Columbia, 2018). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGail M. Newman is the Harold J. Henry Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Williams College. She has published extensively on German Romanticism, modern Austrian literature, and links between literature and psychoanalysis.\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 312\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.4 x 8.4 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e January 21, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47347352994041,"sku":"9780231218948","price":54.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/u0Tz8lGyj89780231218948.webp?v=1769764078","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/the-creative-self-beyond-individualism-paperback","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}