About this episode

Adam Phillips discusses his book 'The Life You Want', exploring the complexities of enjoyment and personal fulfillment in contemporary culture.

Where do we get ideas about the lives we want? And, what do we do - and fail to do - about actually getting them? In The Life You Want Adam Phillips uses psychoanalytic and literary approaches to show that we are obsessed by the idea of our lives being ones we want and enjoy rather than merely endure, tolerate or make the most of. Through a series of interlinked essays, Phillips explores the difficulties we have around the whole idea of enjoying - and fashioning - our lives in cultures that insistently promote enjoyment while making it very difficult for so many people. Exploring the personal and political overlap in the issue of our lives, The Life You Want (FSG, 2026) is a profound examination of our ambivalence about enjoyment, and indeed, wanting. Adam Phillips, formerly a principal child psychotherapist at Charing Cross Hospital, London, is a practicing psychoanalyst and a visiting professor in the English department at the University of York. He is the author of numerous works of psychoanalysis and literary criticism, including Missing Out, Unforbidden Pleasures, In Writing, Attention Seeking, On Wanting to Change, On Getting Better, and On Giving Up. He is also the general…

People in this episode

Host: Marshall Poe

Guest: Adam Phillips

Topics covered

• psychoanalysis
• literary criticism
• enjoyment
• personal development
• cultural critique

Keywords

• psychoanalysis
• enjoyment
• personal fulfillment
• cultural critique
• literary approaches

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: California Institute of Integral Studies, FSG

Books & works: The Life You Want

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