Stephen Grosz

This well-designed publication features new photographs by London-based artist Bettina von Zwehl (b.1971 in Munich). Following her graduation from the Royal College of Art in 1999, von Zwehl has completed high-profile residencies and had solo exhibitions at museums around the world, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, Freud Museum, Holburne Museum, and the New York Historical Society Museum. During a residency in Oxford, von Zwehl researched the Ashmolean’s founding collections and the many narratives embedded within the historical objects. This served as inspiration for a unique Wunderkammer book and exhibition that seamlessly transition between still-life, portraiture, monumental and miniature elements, as well as non-art objects and specimens from natural history collections. The artist's aim is to rekindle wonder and curiosity as critical tools for exploring new ideas and unique practices, expanding the boundaries of the photographic medium.

‘Illuminating, beautiful . . . This is a special book, full of little epiphanies’ Natasha Lunn, author of Conversations on Love The Examined Life, the bestselling debut from psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz, was about learning how to live; his new book, Love’s Labour, is about learning how to love When it comes to love why do we find things so difficult? Drawing on over forty years of candid and surprising conversations with his patients, Stephen Grosz asks, what gets in the way of our falling in love? And what must we do to stay there? In the intimate space of the consulting room, we meet the woman who can’t post her wedding invitations but then, decades later, can’t decide whether to get divorced; the friendship group that explodes when an adulterous affair begins; and the man whose partner’s death is almost too much to bear. As an analyst, Grosz’s unerring ability is to locate what ails the heartsick. As a writer, he elegantly shows how we can deploy the agonies of love as tools for understanding. The labour of love is the work of a lifetime but in finally learning to see ourselves and our world clearly, we find we are truly ready to love one another. 'You will be better at love after you read this book’ Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon Praise for The Examined Life: ‘Grosz’s vignettes are so brilliantly put together that they read like pieces of bare, illuminating fiction. . . . It is this combination of tenacious detective work, remarkable compassion and sheer, unending curiosity for the oddities of the human heart that makes these stories utterly captivating’ Sunday Times ‘Writing with sympathy and insight, Grosz distils years of work into a series of slim, piercing chapters that read like a combination of Chekhov and Oliver Sacks’ New York Times ‘I was enthralled . . . profound and moving, large ideas packed into a slim volume’ Observer

An acclaimed author and psychoanalyst shares moving true stories from his practice to explore the central question of our lives: how do we find and keep love? In these brief but powerful true stories drawn from his more than thirty-five years counseling patients, Stephen Grosz brings us into the lives of people who cannot fully connect with lovers, spouses, parents, or friends. With patience and compassion, Grosz helps each patient draw a map of their internal world in order to uncover the unconscious fears and desires sabotaging their relationships. One man obsessively tends to everyone around him, hoping to avoid love's end; another retreats from the world, unable to live fully until he's able to confront a tragic romance; adultery and betrayal tear apart two married couples, but love persists between spouses in surprising ways. Each one works with Grosz to decipher the language of their heart and learns to surrender to the difficult reality of truly connecting with another person. More than just case histories, these deftly rendered encounters of everyday suffering--and profound relief--are true short stories, marked by Grosz's deep understanding of the human condition and of obstacles on the path to true connection.

The Examined Life, the bestselling debut from psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz, was about learning how to live; his new book, Love’s Labour, is about learning how to loveWhen it comes to love why do we find things so difficult? Drawing on over forty years of candid and surprising conversations with his patients, Stephen Grosz asks, what gets in the way of our falling in love? And what must we do to stay there? In the intimate space of the consulting room, we meet the woman who can’t post her wedding invitations but then, decades later, can’t decide whether to get divorced; the friendship group that explodes when an adulterous affair begins; and the man whose partner’s death is almost too much to bear. As an analyst, Grosz’s unerring ability is to locate what ails the heartsick. As a writer, he elegantly shows how we can deploy the agonies of love as tools for understanding. The labour of love is the work of a lifetime but in finally learning to see ourselves and our world clearly, we find we are truly ready to love one another. Praise for The Examined Life:‘Grosz’s vignettes are so brilliantly put together that they read like pieces of bare, illuminating fiction. . . . It is this combination of tenacious detective work, remarkable compassion and sheer, unending curiosity for the oddities of the human heart that makes these stories utterly captivating’ Sunday Times‘Writing with sympathy and insight, Grosz distils years of work into a series of slim, piercing chapters that read like a combination of Chekhov and Oliver Sacks’ New York Times‘I was enthralled . . . profound and moving, large ideas packed into a slim volume’ Observer

‘I want to change, but not if it means changing,' a patient once said to me in complete innocence What do we do when we find ourselves trapped by our own thoughts or behaviour? Drawing on his twenty-five years’ experience as a psychoanalyst, Stephen Grosz ushers the reader through the door of his consulting room and into the minds of his patients. In these beautifully told cases we find compulsive liars, deceived spouses, violent children and delusional adults but we also find ourselves and in doing so, understand a little more about what it is to be human. Selected from The Examined Life. VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS. A series of short books by the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us humanDiscover the Vintage Minis ‘Head Space’ series: Recovery by Helen Macdonald Family by Mark Haddon

We are all storytellers we create stories to make sense of our lives. But it is not enough to tell tales. There must be someone to listen. In his work as a practicing psychoanalyst, Stephen Grosz has spent the last twenty-five years uncovering the hidden feelings behind our most baffling behavior. The Examined Life distils more than 50,000 hours of conversation into pure psychological insight without the jargon. This extraordinary book is about one ordinary process: talking, listening, and understanding. Its aphoristic and elegant stories teach us a new kind of attentiveness. They also unveil a delicate self-portrait of the analyst at work and show how lessons learned in the consulting room can reveal as much to the analyst as to the patient. These are stories about our everyday lives: they are about the people we love and the lies we tell, the changes we bear and the grief. Ultimately, they show us not only how we lose ourselves but also how we might find ourselves."

Vi er alle historiefortellere, i eget og andres liv, men av og til går ikke historiene opp, de bryter sammen eller slutter å gi mening. For psykoanalytikeren Stephen Grosz er dette et fundamentalt trekk ved det å være menneske - å fortelle, samtale, lytte og forstå. Men livet kan ta en dramatisk vending; kjærligheten tar slutt, en livsløgn tar overhånd, praktiske livsforhold virker uoverstigelige, en sorg er ikke til å bære. For Grosz er alle disse situasjonene muligheter til å miste seg selv, men også et utgangspunkt for å finne seg selv. Fortellinger fra livet er en 50 000 timer lang samtale destillert ned til 200 sider lettfattelig og formidlende prosa. Fri for fagsjargong leverer Grosz et konsentrat av livshistorier det er lett å kjenne seg igjen i, og som man blir litt klokere av å ha lest.

Reveals how the art of insight can illuminate the most complicated, confounding and human of experiences. This title includes stories about our everyday lives: they are about the people we love and the lies that we tell; the changes we bear, and the grief.