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The Long Weekend, 1897-1919: Part of a Life
A reminiscence of the first twenty-one years of Wilfred Bion's life: eight years of childhood in India, ten years at public school in England, and three years of life in the army.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 30, 2012
This is a strange book - some recollections of early childhood, some descriptions of a pretty awful time at boarding school and then quite a lot of descriptions of being a tank commander in the first world war. Bion was a strong personality (!!) so it is interesting to see the way he writes and thinks about things, but it does not seem like a very completed book and it is hard to know what he was trying to achieve in writing it. The World War One stuff is the most impactful, but very depressing - it must have been a huge burden for him to carry through life and there are certainly no signs of easy resolution. I would say that this is not so much part of an autobiography as a few fragments, but if you are interested in Bion, it is certainly interesting. It may also be interesting if you want to get a flavour of what the first world war was like.
July 1, 2014
This is a great book. It was written some two years before he died and published after his death. It covers his childhood, schooling and his army service, which he also covered in a 'diary' he wrote when he went to Oxford, immediately following WW I. This was published some years after the Long Week-End.
The Long Week-End was written towards the end of a brilliant career in psychoanalysis, which included writing a small library of important books.
It differs from the diary little in the facts but a wealth in the emotional experience. Small wonder it has taken so long to be understood. I thought it begged the question - 'which do you think the more important my childhood/infancy or my service in WWI?' I had no doubt. The first chapters read much as I imagine an analytic session might sound and should have been seen by him, perhaps, as the most formative part of his life. I thought his military service far more important (and far more unusual). He clearly puzzled over it for the rest of his life. He had, I have no doubt, a severe post traumatic stress disorder which has never been properly acknowledged by his contemporaries. Only lately it seems has it been seen as of any great relevance. While he makes no attempt in the Long Week-End (or in his other writing) to explain the connections it is clear to see that his military and war-time experiences had a profound influence on all his thinking. The book I suggest deserves a wider reading than just the analytic fraternity and his thinking moves psychological and physical theory into the same street. It will remain a pre-eminent part of an important biography, a challenge perhaps but well worth reading.
The Long Week-End was written towards the end of a brilliant career in psychoanalysis, which included writing a small library of important books.
It differs from the diary little in the facts but a wealth in the emotional experience. Small wonder it has taken so long to be understood. I thought it begged the question - 'which do you think the more important my childhood/infancy or my service in WWI?' I had no doubt. The first chapters read much as I imagine an analytic session might sound and should have been seen by him, perhaps, as the most formative part of his life. I thought his military service far more important (and far more unusual). He clearly puzzled over it for the rest of his life. He had, I have no doubt, a severe post traumatic stress disorder which has never been properly acknowledged by his contemporaries. Only lately it seems has it been seen as of any great relevance. While he makes no attempt in the Long Week-End (or in his other writing) to explain the connections it is clear to see that his military and war-time experiences had a profound influence on all his thinking. The book I suggest deserves a wider reading than just the analytic fraternity and his thinking moves psychological and physical theory into the same street. It will remain a pre-eminent part of an important biography, a challenge perhaps but well worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews