Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett

The writing has such subtlety that one thinks the author must be mad. Indeed, from behind the dutiful prose about everyday things, come explosions of raw terror and rage. It is quite mesmerizing, really. I especially like the story called Control Knobs, about how the knobs on her kitchen appliance were crumbling, one by one, and after they were all broken she would have no way to cook anymore. The surface and the depths are not very far apart for this writer!

The New Censorship by Joel Simon

Freedom of expression is coming under fire all around the world. Are we living in a surveillance state?  To answer that you would need to know that even children's toys come equipped with open mics! I guess it is no secret that professional journalists are being imprisoned and killed all over the world. 

Joel Simon has written a profound book on surveillance and censorship. Copyrighted in 2015, it is still quite current. 

The Divided Self by R.D. Laing

I first heard of R.D. Laing in the late 1960s, when he was known as an 'anti-psychiatrist.' He was thought to have a kinder view of people with disordered mental states. In those days, ordinary people sometimes took mescaline or LSD in order to experience unusual experiences in their minds. I believe Laing set up communities in which doctors and patients lived together, but I don't think he ever found a satisfactory way of healing the sick. He characterized psychotic people as having splits in their mental organization.

I couldn't help but notice hints of contempt in his writing, such as on page 148, where he writes: "I am quite sure that a good number of 'cures' of psychotics consist in the fact that the patient has decided, for one reason or other, once more to play at being sane."

Laing goes on to say that the schizophrenic uses obscurity and complexity deliberately "as a smokescreen to hide behind. This creates the ironical situation that the schizophrenic is often playing at being psychotic, or pretending to be so. In fact, as we have said, pretence and equivocation are greatly used by schizophrenics." (p. 163)

And further: "A good deal of schizophrenia is simply nonsense, red-herring speech, prolonged filibustering to throw dangerous people off the scent, to create boredom and futility in others. The schizophrenic is often making a fool of himself and the doctor. He is playing at being mad to avoid at all costs the possibility of being held responsible for a single coherent idea, or intention." (p. 164) Quite possibly the patient is not cooperating with the doctor to avoid the stigma of mental illness.

Personally, I don't think everybody is so articulate as to be able to say what is plaguing them. That would take a great deal of insight, and everybody is not graced with insight. In what other field of medicine do we expect the patient to figure out and speak up about his or her own disease?

These days, almost 60 years later, psychiatrists do not talk much to patients. They prescribe medications which quell 'voices' and help keep patients from becoming unglued. Sad to say, doctors still regard all psychoses as being chronic and incurable.

Soul by Andrey Platonov

It would be difficult to imagine a more poverty stricken area than the deserts of Central Russia in the late 1930s. As Platonov's writing makes clear, the people owned practically nothing. Meals of boiled grass were common. But even during the blackest times, we see people making the choice to go on, not to die. The reader can feel embedded in the life of a nomadic tribe on the verge of extinction, far from the centers of power and money.

This book is actually a collection of stories. One entitled "The Return" is now considered Platonov's masterpiece. Yet the authorities did not approve of him. I would say he is still rather unknown, despite being perhaps Russia's best writer of prose.

  

Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

Back in 1928, when Swann's Way was first published, there were no cellphones. Servants used to bring handwritten notes around between friends. So much has changed since then, including our taste in literature. Proust's extremely long sentences and paragraphs that take up pages will not be for everyone. I had not read a book like this in 40 years! But it was worth it, since I found this classic quite fascinating. Styles of writing may have changed, but people have not.

How to Forgive When You Don't Feel Like It by June Hunt

Some people think they could never forgive someone who hurt them badly. But to forgive is simply to "turn it over" to a Higher Power and stop holding feelings of resentment. We do this for our own good, not for them.

Maybe I can forgive that person but it is not advisable to restore a relationship with them. "Reconciliation," writes June Hunt, "involves a change in behavior by the offender." If the person who hurt you does not acknowledge the wrongdoing and demonstrate remorse, it is only common sense to avoid them. 

However, there are exceptions to every rule. If you have few friends, you might want to resume contact with the person who hurt you and didn't apologize, so as not to be too much alone.

You might pray for this person. You might pray that they become less selfish and more mature.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S.Lewis

C.S.Lewis (1898-1963) was a learned man who also became a very popular writer. In The Screwtape Letters a senior demon is instructing his nephew, a novice, how to tempt an ordinary man so that he loses his soul. C.S. Lewis was a member of the Anglican Church, which is close to Roman Catholic theology.

In our scientific era, we are encouraged not to believe in spirits interfering in human life. A person can say he or she is a religious or spiritual person and not believe in spirits. Apparently C.S.Lewis's time was a transitional period in which many belief systems were in existence simultaneously. For example, Lewis himself was an atheist for a while after World War I.

In the Screwtape Letters everything is backwards, and God is referred to as The Enemy. Perhaps the book is a satire; I don't know. In any case, it is very amusingly written; funny and serious at the same time.