Intimacy: Understanding the Subtle Power of Human Connection

ISBN-13: 9781844655274 / Angielski / Twarda / 2014 / 240 str.

Ziyad Marar

Opis

Only connect we are told. Yet one only has to look around on Valentine's Day for a sobering reminder that there is rather less intimacy in the world than there appears to be. Popular culture assures us that couples, friends, family members and even strangers on a train can easily find that sense of deep connection and mutual understanding. Yet in an age of consumption and new media where friending has become a verb, genuine intimacy seems harder to find than ever. Drawing on novels and films as well as psychology, sociology and philosophy, Ziyad Marar offers four lenses through which to illuminate this nebulous concept. He details the many barriers and insecurities that impede our hopes and keep true intimacy at bay, such as the illusion of self-knowledge, lack of imagination and empathy and the wishful thinking that leads to politeness or the avoidance of healthy conflict. Often confused with love, intimacy is in many ways more important. Marar's celebration and investigation of this elusive profound human experience shows how the pursuit of that emotional, conspiratorial but ultimately kind bond with another person is central to a life lived well.

Recenzje

"An interesting and wide-ranging meditation on the nature of intimacy." - Nigel Warburton

"This is a bold and thought-provoking book with brilliant insight into human psychology and required reading for anyone brave enough to embrace this human experience that is as elusive as it is powerful." - The Psychologist

"... a fresh and fascinating look at intimacy" – The Irish Times

Spis treści

1. Only Connect  2. Translating Intimacy  3. The Kiss  Part 1: Intimacy Through Four Lenses  4. It Takes Two  5. A Conspiracy  6. Unruly Emotion  7. A Complicated Kindness  Part 2: Barriers to Intimacy  8. Insecurities  9. Solipsism and Imaginative Failures  10. Wishful Thinking  11. Cultures and Contexts  Part 3: Finding Intimacy  12. Learning from Literature  13. In Good Faith.  Index

O autorze

Ziyad Marar has a BSc and MA in psychology and philosophy, and is Global Publishing Director of the academic and professional publisher, SAGE. His previous books include The Happiness Paradox and Deception.