D. W. Winnicott and the finding of literature

Abstract

In this chapter Elizabeth Sarah Coles reads Winnicott’s critique of the synthetic force of psychoanalytic interpretation alongside what she argues is a powerful alternate discourse on aesthetic relationship in his bestknown writings on creative and cultural experience. Testing the limits of two terms he puts to enigmatic use –‘finding’ and ‘creating’ – the chapter argues that Winnicott’s vindication of resistant, incomprehensible and dissatisfying objects in both early infant and adult cultural life, offers critical practice in the humanities – and critical readings of literature in particular – a curious and unexpected ally in its recent search for alternative approaches and forms of critical writing.