#Arabella Kurtz

[dipnotski]

J. M. Coetzee – İyi Hikâye (2023)

‘İyi Hikâye’, Nobel Ödüllü yazar J. M. Coetzee ile klinik psikolog Arabella Kurtz arasında geçen, psikoterapi ve hikâye anlatma sanatı üzerine büyüleyici bir diyalog. Coetzee ve Kurtz, psikanalitik kuramları ve terapi yöntemlerini edebiyat eserleriyle yan yana getirerek psikoterapiyi, psikoterapideki gelişim idealini, toplumsal bağlamı ve kurmacayı farklı açılardan ele alıyor. Cervantes ile…

[euripidesredux]

Extended credits for Museum at Tomorrow episode 5

Below the cut are all of the folks who I used (and asked to be credited) for recordings in Museum at Tomorrow episode 5- specifically, the "This is not for You" recordings.

(The list was too long for podcast episode descriptions)

These recordings were mixed into the soundscape of the show, heavily processed- so you may or may not be able to pick out your voice. Each unique recording is preserved as rhythem, timber, and shape within the episode.

Thank you for your work in creating the canvas of this piece.

Kate Bullen

K R Forsyth

Vega Jacobsen

Charlie

Rovi

Grace Gamble 

Wesley Lee Balete

Charlie Sloykowski

JC Hendry

Courtney Brothers

Arabella McDonald

Hanc Finestra

Katie H

Galacticguppy 

Beck Smith

GreenHeronHive

Micheal Vee

Mira Singer

Laurent J.L. Hall

Carley Mothersell

woaaah

cmt

November_Clouds

Elliott Neptune

Enrica Jossi

Ace

Jahan Shah 

Morgan Galagher

Niall LG

  Bates

Caroline Mincks

Daniel Kurtz

AJ Fidalgo

Tani

Shura

Zedek H

Halebop

Malia Northstar

Greg Ruddick

Solstice Hannan

Jessamy Thomison 

Cassie A.

Rachel Spokony

miss mr meow

Arti Richardson

Mattie J.

Geddy Cary-Avery,

 Ophelia Cary-Avery

Sophie Kaplan

X Speaks

Devin

Craux

Cap

Joe R

Ray Goldberg

Mog

The Marble System

Tina Case

Kate Bullen

Marionette

LD

Maddy Searle

Remi P

Meg Taylor

Beth

Evan Tess Murray

Amanda Jones

Amanda Ehrhardt

Nathan Fisentzou-Haji-Leonti

Johanna Andersson

Tess Huth

@faeriebullshit

Olivia Lion

Ange

Bridget M. Mueting

Wil Williams

Katie Utke

aceofgames

Savy Stay

Graham Rowat

Meredith

spaceacebreakface 

Molly Walsh

Belinda Parker

Erin Celovsky

liz

Caden Osojnak

Danniac 

Ray Schrader

Atlas Byrd

AJ. S.

JayseHasNoGrace

Fay Blackmore

Sharon Peterson

Katharina Abschlag 

Izzy

Ace Tayloe

kat B

Siz Hart

moth

Kathryn Cox

G. Honnigford

Pine Gonzalez

sisyphus

Essay

artie eigengrau

Rook Davis

Izzi Mata

grayson

Tamara Jones

Willow

G.F.

Leigh sharpe

Zelda MacFarland

Arkyn Wolf

Elany

Elaine Wiley

Mary Lewis-Phillipps

Claudia Elvidge

Kei Burke

Katie Vargas

Karleen Preator

Alicia Babich

Jonathan Sciance

Étoile

Hayden Laver

Barrett Vann

S Kramer

Maya Hiers-Lairson

judas

Archer Hickerson

Malinda

Nicole Liang

LF Haye

Louis Carroll

Stefanie K.

Autumn Wang 

jayvin

Badger Merriweather

Aiden

Sender Paulson

vexxervee

Rob Weiner

Peril

Lotte Schmidt 

fynn

Lor

Josie D. 

Jaryn Tyson

Common Blue Icarus

resplendeo

Claire Alpern

skelejor

Matt Weiss

M Zemlock

Kay Eileen

Callisto Holmes

Rhys

Noah Quinn

Sarah Elizabeth

Willow Belden

Amanda McCormack

Esrah Del Carlo

sunny

the Hartmans

Lee Ann Eden

Bob Proctor

Clueless

deda eliensis

Ohallo

Tara Schile

Marzi 

Flameheart Dryad

Sarah Lambrix 

JB Segal 

Ellis C

Ash

Autumn

Jaime Tamar

Haze Peers

Moose

Erin Bevan

Luci Tomich

Bryn

Michael W.

Kim Fukawa

Amy Strieter

Petra Hall

Mal

Charlie Rayshich

Susan Weiner

Everett Blackthorne

Vergess

Tor

ArionWind

M. Alti

N. B. Green

Aiden Nicholson

Jacky Rubou

Nura Lawrence

Gwen Clancy

Ollie M.

Caroline

Duo

Iris

ML Beck

Ray Makowski

Eljay Rich

MV8

Michelle Pigott

Rachel Pfennigwerth

Janika

Jamie Gump

Mason J Miller

Ella Watts

Cole

Mady Oswald

Valerie "ShinyHappyGoth" Kaplan

Anne Baird

Emily Ricotta

el-draco-bizarro

Ansel Burch

Nathan Sowell

LM Heß

Cy

Richard Peers

[mavibirbahce]

HAKİKATE ÇARPMAK Arabella Kurtz, dolaylı yoldan şunu demeye getiriyor sözü: Hakikati ne kadar inkâr edersek edelim, bir biçimde ona çarparız. Hanna Segal'in hakikatin bir olgu değil süreç olduğu tespitinden yola çıkarak, ne kadar acı verici de olsa bilinçdışı deneyime daha açık bir hale gelmenin iyileştirici bir etkisi olsa da tam bir açıklığa asla erişilemeyeceğini de dile getiriyor.

[left-handlibrary]

I’ve been reading some sections of this book for my first Narrative Analysis assignment and it’s been really fascinating so far. The Good Story is a collection of exchanges between J. M. Coetzee and Arabella Kurtz on story-making (fiction and non-fiction) and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. I’m looking forward to reading it in its entirety when I finish uni for the year.

[importantcoffeecomputer]

Psychology and literature, the connection

Psychology and literature, the connection

Blog Post No. 169

By Dr Jim Byrne

20th July 2018

~~~

Dr Jim’s Blog: What are the linkages between psychology and psychotherapy, on the one hand, and literature, on the other…?

Copyright (c) Jim Byrne, July 2018

~~~

Introduction

I recently posted some comments on LinkedIn on the connections between psychology and literature, and the effects of literature upon my own therapeutic journey.

Sometimes…

[thisdaynews]

Documents reveal massive 'dark-money' group boosted Democrats in 2018

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/documents-reveal-massive-dark-money-group-boosted-democrats-in-2018/

Documents reveal massive 'dark-money' group boosted Democrats in 2018

The group’s 2018 fundraising surpassed any amount ever raised by a left-leaning political nonprofit, according to experts, who pointed to the Koch network and the Crossroads network as rare right-leaning groups that posted bigger yearly fundraising totals at the height of their powers.

The Sixteen Thirty Fund’s rise last year is a sign that Democrats and allies have embraced the methods of groups they decried as “dark money” earlier this decade, when they were under attack from the money machines built by conservatives including the Kochs.

“In terms of the size of dark money networks, there are only a few that have gone into the $100 million-plus range,” said Robert Maguire, the research director for the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and an expert in political nonprofits.

“These kinds of totals aren’t unheard of,” Maguire added. “I do think they’re unheard of on the liberal side. I think that’s what’s so striking about this.”

In an email, Sixteen Thirty Fund executive director Amy Kurtz wrote that the group “provides support to advocates and social welfare organizations around the country, and we are pleased with the growth we had in 2018.”

Sixteen Thirty Fund played a role in the battle for the House of Representatives in 2018, a crucial contest for Democrats trying to seize back power after Trump’s rise. The election featured dozens of Democratic candidates who decried the influence of money in politics on the campaign trail.

The nonprofit operated under four dozen different trade names in 2018, many of which have benign-sounding local titles like Arizonans United for Health Care and Floridians for a Fair Shake. POLITICO revealed in 2018 that a number of these linked groups were collectivelyspending millions of dollarsto pressure Republican members of Congress on their stances on health care, taxes and the economy through TV ads and grass-roots organizing.

A related organization called the Hub Project controlled the flow of money for this effort from Sixteen Thirty Fund into states and districts, according toreportingby The New York Times. This year, the group is “continuing to work on campaigns that Americans care about,” Hub Project spokesman Dan Crawford said, including campaigns focused on health care, taxes and the economy.

Demand Justice, the courts-focused group helmed by former Hillary Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon, also ran out of Sixteen Thirty Fund. Demand Justice spent millions of dollars on TV ads as Democrats tried to prevent Brett Kavanaugh from being confirmed to the Supreme Court in 2018. More recently, the group projected a video of Christine Blasey Ford accusing Kavanaugh of assault on the side of a truck outside a Washington gala where Kavanaugh was speaking.

In addition to the direct spending conducted under prominent trade names, Sixteen Thirty Fund also distributed more than $91 million in grants to 95 other groups in 2018, according to the tax filing. These funds made Sixteen Thirty Fund a major source of money for political nonprofits pushing an array of changes to state and federal law.

More than $27 million of that money went to America Votes, another liberal nonprofit that describes itself as “the coordination hub of the progressive community” on its website. That grant by itself was nearly twice the amount America Votes had ever raised in a single year ($14.2 million), according to federal tax records.

Sixteen Thirty Fund also directed tens of millions of dollars directly into state-level politics, including a series of successful ballot measures. The group gave $6.25 million to a group urging passage of a Nevada ballot measure promoting automatic voter registration, as well as $6 million to a Michigan group pushing changes to the state’s redistricting process. Another $2.65 million went toward boosting a Florida constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to felons. Groups pushing minimum wage increases in Arkansas, Missouri and other states received millions more.

More than $10 million flowed from the Sixteen Thirty Fund into Colorado alone, to organizations supporting Democrats in state legislative races and campaigns for statewide office, as well as several more focused on expensive ballot measure campaigns.

“The ballot initiative process offers an important counterbalance to the failings of partisan politics and we are proud of our support for some of the most impactful and important initiatives of the 2018 cycle,” Kurtz, the Sixteen Thirty Fund executive director, wrote in an email.

The group does disclose the amount of money of each donation, which shows several strikingly large contributions: One donor gave the group $51,705,000; a second gave $26,747,561 and a third gave $10,000,000. And The Hub Projectdisclosedthree of its donors in 2017: Seattle venture capitalist Nick Hanauer, the union American Federation of Teachers and the Wyss Foundation, founded by businessman and environmentalist Hansjörg Wyss.

The huge size of Sixteen Thirty Fund and its donations raise questions about whether it has its own independent base of donors or if whether acts as one part of a larger network, said Brett Kappel, campaign finance lawyer at Akerman LLP.

“When you see a very large contribution — which is more than a third of the money raised — that raises the possibility that other groups are funneling money to this group to distribute to individual states,” said Kappel. “Is this part of a dark money network? And what’s its function?”

There are some signposts that partly show Sixteen Thirty Fund’s operators and potential sources of its funding. Sixteen Thirty Fund is closely tied to Arabella Advisors, a firm that advises donors and nonprofits about where to give money and was founded by former Clinton administration appointee Eric Kessler. Kessler is president and chair of Sixteen Thirty Fund, and Arabella Advisors provides “business and administrative services” to the nonprofit, according to the tax filing.

Several of the biggest donors and organizations in Democratic politics also have public links to Sixteen Thirty Fund. Potential presidential candidate and megadonor Michael Bloomberg gave $250,000 to a super PAC linked to Sixteen Thirty Fund, Change Now, in 2018. And the Democratic donor group Democracy Alliance, which has dozens of members including billionaire George Soros, recommended last spring that donors invest several million dollars into Sixteen Thirty Fund, according to documents obtained at the time by POLITICO.

Read More

[ingo-hampe]

A Good Story. The psychologist Arabella Kurtz and the author J.M. Coetze exchange their thoughts about my favourite topics: #psychology and #storytelling . unfortunately their dialogue is too abstract and theoretical for me. #amreading #bookstagram #life #soul #inspiration #motivation #writerslife #autorenwahnsinn #enjoylife #enjoyyourself (at Rote Insel, Schöneberg)

[apuntesparapibe]

¿Existe la verdad? Si pudiera dar una respuesta rápida sería un genio, o ganaría mucho dinero, o ambas cosas. Como digo en el libro, al psicoterapeuta le interesa la verdad subjetiva o emocional, y creo que esa verdad existe y que sabemos cuándo entramos en contacto con ella. Cuando se materializa un aspecto de la verdad emocional, tenemos ese sentimiento de conexión y repercusión profunda, de que algo nos ha llegado muy dentro. Pero es una cosa imprecisa, difícil de describir y definir, y fundamentalmente provisional y cambiante.

Arabella Kurtz

[jamespauljones-nonfiction]

The Good Story - Arabella Kurtz & J. M. Coetzee

Harvill Secker 2015

[jaberbock]

El buen relato

  Las resistencias del relato, las omisiones involuntarias reconstruyen la historia del sujeto, reescrita y cambiante. Coetzee duda si la invención no puede ser más terapéutica que el despojamiento o si la colisión con una verdad doliente anula la sanación de autojustificaciones. (more…)

[millionsmillions]

Coetzee has made a career out of examining the motivations that drive people—and communities—to create stories about themselves. He is always on the lookout for weakness that masks itself as moralizing, for the memory that is conveniently forgotten for the sake of a clean conscience.

J. M. Coetzee has published The Good Story: Exchanges on Truth, Fiction and Psychotherapy with psychologist Arabella Kurtz, which details the five-year correspondence between the two. The letters offer “a rare opportunity to understand the mind of a writer who almost never speaks at length in his own voice.” 

For more of the Nobel laureate, read our review of The Childhood of Jesus.

[lamanie-litera]

Coetzee: I don’t have much respect for reality

By profession I have been a trader in fictions. From what I write it must be evident to you that I don’t have much respect for reality. I think of myself as using rather than reflecting reality in my fiction. If the world of my fictions is a recognisable world, that is because (I say to myself) it is easier to use the world at hand than to make up a new one. In a letter to Louise Colet, Gustave Flaubert spoke of aspiring to write a book about nothing, a book that would be held together by the mutual tensions of its component parts rather than by its correspondence to any real world. He never wrote such a book: it was much too hard, and anyhow no one would have read it. But it is telling that a writer who is thought of as an arch-realist should have had such a low opinion of reality.

What ties one to the real world is, finally, death. One can make up stories about oneself to one’s heart’s content, but one is not free to make up the ending. The ending has to be death: it is the only ending one can seriously believe in. What an irony then that to anchor oneself in a sea of fictions one should have to rely on death!

John Maxwell Coetzee, Arabella Kurtz, The Good Story: Exchanges on Truth, Fiction and Psychotherapy, 2015.

[lamanie-litera]

On truth

John Maxwell Coetzee: Let me start by posing a philosophical question. What is an event itself, as opposed to the event as we interpret it to or for ourselves, or as it is interpreted to or for us by others, particularly authoritative others? ‘When I was eight my father hit me with a tennis racket,’ says a subject. ‘Not true,’ says his father. ‘I was swinging the racket and accidentally hit him.’ What really happened? Specifically, is the boy’s memory of the event true, or is the father’s true? I call it a memory, but that is an oversimplification: it is a memory-trace which has been subjected to a certain interpretation. I might even go on to say that it is a memory-trace which has been subjected to an interpretation behind which lies a certain will to interpret (in the boy’s case perhaps a will to give the event its darkest interpretation, in the father’s case a will to give it a harmless interpretation). How are we to disentangle the memory component from the component of interpretation, leaving aside for the moment the will behind the interpretation? Is it possible – philosophically but also neurologically – to speak of a memory that is pristine, uncoloured by interpretation?

Just recently I read an article by Jonathan Franzen in which he says that, after submitting to one promotional interview after another for his new book, he felt he had to break free or else he would begin to believe in the life-narrative that he had been spouting in the interviews. I interpret him as saying, not that he had been telling untruths in the interviews, but that the repetitions of a single account of his own life were scouring so deep a trace that he would soon lose his freedom to interpret (remember) his life otherwise.

To think of a life-story as a compendium of memories which one is free to interpret in the present according to the demands (and desires) of the present seems to me characteristic of a writer’s way of thinking. I would contrast this with the way many people see their life-story: as a history that is forever fixed (‘you can’t change the past’). The strange thing is how many of us want to fix our life-story, by repeating over and over, to ourselves and to others, one or other preferred interpretation of it.

You can hear trivial examples of fixing a piece of history any day of the week as you sit in the bus eavesdropping on conversations. ‘I said to her … She said to me … I said to her …’ You write of the changing ways in which one may be able to see the past according to one’s age or personal development; you use the word perspective. I don’t think you and I are far apart here. The therapist who comes up against the ‘ordinary’ notion that one’s past (more accurately, the story of one’s past) is immutable must surely experience it as an obstacle.

As I have said before, what interests me in these fixed life-stories is not so much what finds its way into them as what gets left out.

Leaving things out is, I suppose, repression; and the theory seems to be that the bits that have been left out are still there somewhere in the dark recesses of memory. I know the human brain is huge, but is it really big enough to hold everything that has been left out? Doesn’t what we leave out add up to everything in the universe minus our small part? We leave it out, we say, because it isn’t relevant. What that means is that it isn’t relevant to the present interpretation we prefer to give to our past.

All of which leads me back to your suggestion that psychotherapists might be able to learn from writers (in this case fiction writers) how to aim at, or at least be satisfied with, a life-narrative whose truth is poetic (a hard term to define – later you write of ‘the truth of what is in the heart and the mind’, which may or may not be the same thing) rather than pragmatic, conforming to the facts of the case.

I would agree and might even be persuaded to go further: to say that the therapist might aim to foster in the patient a freedom to be master of their own life-narrative; that the sense of freedom or mastery, and what can be achieved with it, may turn out to be more important than the story itself.

The question, however, is whether we really want to move in a society in which everyone around us feels empowered (a term I use cautiously) to ‘be who they want to be’ by acting (acting out) the personal myths (the ‘poetic’ truths) they have constructed for themselves. Do we trust the human imagination as an invariable force for good? Doesn’t the human imagination, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, fall back on the most banal of stories, picked up out of the commercial repertoire?

Where one would go from here I am not sure. On the one hand I am alarmed by the prospect of a world in which people’s notion of liberty includes the liberty to reconstruct their personal histories endlessly without fear of sanction (fear of the reality principle). On the other hand, if an individual who is deeply miserable can be cheered up by being encouraged to revise the story of their life, giving it a positive spin, who could possibly object?

In the first case the truth seems to me to matter, finally. We can’t all simply be who we like to think we are. In the second case the truth seems to me to matter less. What is wrong with a harmless lie if it makes us feel better? (Example of such a lie: After we die we wake up in another, better world.)

Help me to get beyond this point

John Maxwell Coetzee, Arabella Kurtz, The Good Story: Exchanges on Truth, Fiction and Psychotherapy, 2015.