ARN Seminar: "Literary Reading and Chronic Pain" with Prof Josie Billington

The Australian Reception Network is very pleased to welcome Prof Josie Billington to deliver the second presentation in our seminar series! All ARN subscribers and any interested members of the public are welcome to register.

"Literary Reading and Chronic Pain"

Abstract: The talk will preview a forthcoming book on the value of reading literature for people living with chronic pain, based on the findings of a study funded by the British Academy, and carried out in partnership with UK charity, The Reader. Specifically, the talk will consider the power of literature at once to ‘find’ buried emotional pain and to provide a language for its expression. Drawing on Wilfred Bion’s theory of thinking and his study of experiences in groups, as well as on the work of developmental psychotherapists (Beatrice Beebe, Daniel Stern), the talk will outline the analogous therapeutic dynamics of (shared) literary reading and the psychoanalytic encounter.

Josie Billington is Professor in English Literature at the University of Liverpool, where she co-leads the Arts, Mental Health and Wellbeing theme of the Centre for Health, Arts, Society and Environment (CHASE) and co-directs the MA in Health, Cultures and Societies. She has edited and published extensively on Victorian fiction and poetry and led multiple inter­disciplinary studies on the value of literary reading in relation to depression, dementia, chronic pain, prisoner health and community mental health. Her publications in this field include Is Literature Healthy (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Reading and Mental Health (Palgrave, 2019).

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