“May all Be Shattered into God”: Mary Barnes and Her Journey through Madness in Kingsley Hall
Adrian Chapman
Journal of Medical Humanities June 2, 2018 DOI: 10.1007/s10912-018-9517-1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Criticism Psychoanalysis Narrative Reading process Metaphor Psychoanalytic theory Close reading Memoir Literature Theology |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key points | Argues that Mary Barnes's account in the co-authored book reveals tensions within the anti-psychiatric movement and critiques the utopianism of R. D. Laing's view of madness. |
Abstract
Contributing to renewed scholarly interest in R. D. Laing and his circle, and in the radical therapeutic community of Kingsley Hall, London (1965-1970), this article offers the first article-length reading of Mary Barnes' and Joseph Berke's Mary Barnes: Two Accounts of a Journey through Madness. This text offers views of anti-psychiatry 'on the ground' that critique the 1960s utopianism of Laing's championing of madness as a metanoic, quasi-psychedelic voyage. Barnes' story, too, reveals tensions within the anti-psychiatric movement. Moving beyond existing criticism of the text, Barnes, it is argued here, emerges as far more than an exemplary patient, victim or anti-psychiatric puppet. Particular attention is paid in this reading of Two Accounts to the following: the ways in which the spiritually inclined Barnes and the psychoanalytic Berke differ in this dual narrative text; the ways in which each differs from Laing; the metaphor of the journey; and the setting of Barnes' story in the often conflicted, experimental household of Kingsley Hall.