Trauma, Tragedy, Therapy ─ The Arts and Human Suffering

For Levine (emeritus, social science, York U., Toronto): "Chaos is the mother of all beings." As a therapist, philosopher, and artist as well as social scientist, he explores the process of poiesis (shaping) as the basis of expressive arts therapy. Drawing on Greek, modern, and postmodern thought, and the "art of despair" (e.g., Waiting for Godot) in 14 revised papers and interviews, he calls for treating trauma from a creative re-imagining rather than victimization approach. The Holocaust is a particular interest. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Stephen K. Levine is Professor Emeritus of Social Science at York University (Toronto), Vice-Provost and Dean of the Doctoral Program in Expressive Arts Therapy, Education, Consulting and Social Change at the European Graduate School on Switzerland and Co-Director of ISIS-Canada, a training programme in expressive arts therapy. He has earned doctorates in philosophy and anthropology from the New School for Social Research, and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Expressive Therapy at Lesley University. He is the author of Poiesis: The Language of Psychology and the Speech of the Soul, co-author of Principles and Practice of Expressive Arts Therapy: Toward a Therapeutic Aesthetics, and co-editor of Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy: Theoretical and Clinical Perspectives, all published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. He is Editor of Poiesis: A Journal of the Arts and Communication and is a registered Expressive Arts Therapist (IEATA), actor and poet.