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Varieties of Hope: Stories of Sexuality, Shame and Power

Author(s) : Jan Campbell

Reviews and Endorsements

What a joy to read Campbell’s work Varieties of Hope which, once again, demonstrates the originality of her thinking and the depth of her understanding of the human condition. Her writing does not just evidence the breadth of her knowledge, as she effortlessly moves between literary criticism and psychoanalytic theory but is driven by a desire to shed light on the intractable human dilemmas encountered in the consulting room. Radical, political and clinical this is a book for our time, exploring the very theme that eludes us most today. Campbell’s work helps keep hope alive.
Pamela Howard, CPsychol, UKCP reg psychoanalytic psychotherapist, programme director, Counselling and Psychotherapy, principal lecturer in Psychotherapy, School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Brighton

One of the best compliments it is possible to pay a writer, or therapist for that matter, is “Well, I never thought of it that way before”. This collection of essays by Jan Campbell leads the reader to precisely that sentiment time and again. Hope is a vital component in human affairs. Campbell’s exploration of hope, its varieties and its subterfuges, considers what literature and psychoanalysis can tell us about hope under attrition and its capacities for regeneration. Perhaps not paradoxically, Campbell’s themes occupy the shadow side of contemporary politics and culture, including some of its major legal and medical controversies. It is a commonplace to say this or that book is timely - though this one undoubtedly is. Some varieties of hope, after all, are simply better and more pressing than others. As we are constantly being told, and not for the first time, hope is in short supply. And in that “and not for the first time”, perhaps, lies a source of hope in itself.
Roger Lippin, psychoanalytic psychotherapist and supervisor (UKCP registered), M.Sc., C.Q.S.W