Argues [psychiatric social worker Robert] Plank (in International Record of Medicine and General Practice Clinics): many science-fiction plots betray "schizophrenic manifestations" in the minds of their authors, who work out their fantasies by literary catharsis. Similarly, he concludes, readers release the steam from their own unconscious by reading the fantasies.Plank actually stops short of calling science fiction writers "crazy," instead claiming "these signs are becoming more conspicuous in a mechanized civilization." So the I guess it's just the times that are crazy.
(The article also taught me the term "wig-picker" as a synonym for "psychiatrist." Learn something new every day!)
Tags:science fiction, psychiatry
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Wig Picker, I love it!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a conclusion to make! Somehow I don't think very many people agree with his theory.