The LRB has reprinted the late Wynne Godley's account of the origins and progress of his nervous illness, and the mindboggling misery he went through under psychoanalysis. Another tale of the times.
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A close (though geographically distant) friend of mine wrote a biographical study of Winnicott as her dissertation when she was training to be a psychotherapist; I've got chunks of it in draft form on my hard drive. It should really have been published in some form, but she died of cancer shortly after qualifying. I remember sending her a copy of this article. She was a great fan of Bion (mentioned in one of the letters).
I'm convinced that Winnicott was a genius. I haven't read much about Khan or wanted to. (Linda Hopkins, one of the letter writers, has written his biography.)
No point really, just that both the subject matter and the mood of that article - the sense that sometimes life just is fucked up, and sometimes it's irremediable - has a lot of resonances.
Posted by: Phil | October 06, 2012 at 09:41 AM
Actually 'irremediable' is wrong - just that sometimes you're digging in the wrong place & need to stop digging.
Posted by: Phil | October 06, 2012 at 09:43 AM
His piece on the euro reads extremely well twenty years later. A very interesting life, the fuckedupness being part of the fascination, I guess. That's him as an archangel conquering the devil on the outside of Coventry cathedral.
Posted by: bert | October 06, 2012 at 11:01 AM
In real life the demons were chasing him.
Posted by: bert | October 06, 2012 at 11:15 AM
Jeez - that's Wynn Godley? When I lived in the city I walked passed that most days. That might rate as the most Utterly Useless but Totally Compelling fact I've ever picked up on B&T. Bert, I am in your debt.
Posted by: CMcM | October 06, 2012 at 12:48 PM
Another useless fact: Godley was the Treasury official who handled the '67 devaluation of sterling.
"Pound in your pocket" and all that.
Posted by: bert | October 06, 2012 at 01:14 PM
There's that and more in this bit of family history.
He's in his 80's, shows signs of being fairly heavily medicated, and was dead within 18 months. Worth a watch nonetheless.
Posted by: bert | October 06, 2012 at 01:23 PM
Oops, I definitely should not have posted that. Please remove. Thank you.
Posted by: godoggo | October 06, 2012 at 03:01 PM
Also, I'm aware n retrospect that it could have used some proofing.
Posted by: godoggo | October 06, 2012 at 03:08 PM
It's OK, if there was ever a sociopolitical website that was also wholly open to the discussion of the contributing community's horrendous urological disorders, it's this one.
Posted by: john b | October 06, 2012 at 03:25 PM
Yeah, I haven't got the privs to delete that comment, but I am willing to dilute it by alluding to the fact that I am very clued up on what 'Trans-urethral resection of tumour' means in practice. Of course, if Jamie then deletes the other comment, this will be left looking a bit of an irrelevance; but I can cope with that.
Posted by: Chris williams | October 06, 2012 at 03:34 PM
I hope Jamie won't delete the comment. We're all in this together, as someone once said.
Posted by: john b | October 06, 2012 at 04:07 PM
You should try my patent Tangiers Bug Powder. It'll do you wonders.
Posted by: Barry Freed | October 06, 2012 at 04:10 PM
I know nothing of godoggo beyond what he's chosen to share in comments here, but I think the comment should probably be deleted.
Posted by: Phil | October 06, 2012 at 10:06 PM
Barry: is it made from the true black meat, the Brazilian aquatic centipede?
Phil: spoilsport.
Posted by: john b | October 07, 2012 at 01:47 AM
Boy, this thread makes interesting reading if you're coming to it fresh this morning.
Posted by: ajay | October 08, 2012 at 09:54 AM