Not Drowning, Reading

by Andrew Relph

As a child, Andrew had a reading disability; now he is a psychoanalyst, and professionally adept in the art of conversation. Not Drowning, Reading is a work of literary non - fiction - a memoir about the art and the gift of reading: As a young child I couldn't read or write. That was something I knew about myself. If you'd have asked me, at the time, some question skilfully designed to elicit the child's sense of identity, it would have been there, resting just below the surface ...In adolescence I read as if my life depended on it, and I think it did. Now increasingly I read for enjoyment rather than survival. Relph's essays reveals a life via the books the author has encountered, and show how one might map a life through reading. From Amis to Bellow, Blake to Herzog, and Shakespeare to Woolf, these essays ask why it is that books are so important to us, and why our relationships with authors and characters can be as vital as any we form in 'real life'.

• ISBN13: 9781459631670
• Publish Date: 1 March 2012 (first published 1 January 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: CA
• Imprint: ReadHowYouWant
• Edition: Large type / large print edition
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 196
• Language: English

Reviews

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

As a child Andrew Relph had a reading disability, but he never let that stop him. He realised the value and importance of reading and writing and worked harder to learn these skills. Now a psychoanalyst and professional conversationalist, Relph's book Not Drowning, Reading explores his relationship with books and how they fit into his life experiences.

The title Not Drowning, Reading is a fascinating one and also comes with an interesting backstory. It references a time the author almost drowned but also is a perfect metaphor for how Relph felt during his school years struggling with a reading disability. A feeling of struggling to keep his head above water and not get lost in the depths of the educational waters seems to give me an idea of the battle he was having internally. It is interesting to think that he went from an internal battle into a career helping others with psychological struggles.

Divided into essays on his life, Andrew Relph explores the impact literature has had on his life with continual references to his career as a psychoanalyst. Considering I have an interest in psychoanalysing literature, this was a fascinating read for me and gave me plenty to think about. Relph shares his love for authors like Martin Amis, Saul Bellow, William Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf and to my disappointment D.H. Lawrence. In fact his thesis was centred on Lawrence and the psychoanalysis.

For those people who don't know, I consider Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence as one of the worst books I have ever read. I will admit that I just didn't get the appeal and have never returned to Lawrence again. There are plenty of reviewers I respect and trust that love the works of D. H. Lawrence and while I hate to admit this, I feel like I need help in understanding the appeal. Lady Chatterley's Lover was read when I first started out as a reader and there would be a lot I missed but I also suspect that it wasn't the best starting point for me as a reader.

Now I have had a rant about D.H. Lawrence, I should return to Not Drowning, Reading by Andrew Relph. This memoir is a very deep look at his life and literature through the lens of psychoanalysis; this reminds me I need to learn about these literary theories but for others it might come across as a little dense. I was completely immersed and fascinated by what Andrew Relph had to say but I am well aware that compared to other memoirs about literature this might be too heavy on theory for some readers.

This review originally appeared on my blog: http://literary-exploration.com/2014/12/07/not-drowning-reading-by-andrew-relph/