A Reader's Guide to the Work of Paul Russell

Abstract

This introduction to two papers by Paul Russell is structured as a reader's guide to Russell's work. It is suggested that his mode of writing (his “process”) and his choice of themes (his “content”) are closely allied to the experiencing he describes. Alerting the reader to the deceptive simplicity and apparent reiterative quality of Russell's approach, I emphasize the paradoxical, and powerful, nature of his taut interweaving of voice and idea as he refracts, over time, multiple emergent meanings, ever circling around five key elements: affect, attachment, trauma, repetition, and negotiation.

Keywords:

• Russell
• process
• affect
• attachment
• trauma
• repetition
• negotiation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Barbara Pizer

Barbara Pizer, Ed.D. is Faculty and Supervising Analyst, Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis; and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.