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Join Author Devorah Baum as she discusses her latest book, On Marriage, with Psychoanalyst and Author, Anouchka Grose.
For better or worse. For richer or poorer. Till death us do part . . .
We’ve always done it, we’re still doing it. Straight, queer, coupled or uncoupled, none of us live outside the cultural and psychological influence of marriage and all of us are written into its story. But why this highly contested and ancient practice has remained relevant to so many is by no means certain. Is it an act of love, a leap of faith, a holy bond, a contractual commitment, a bid for security, a framework for family, a hedge against being alone? Or could its traditional cover conceal something a bit more radical? Why do we do it at all?
Drawing on philosophy, film, fiction, comedy, psychoanalysis, music and poetry, Devorah Baum considers the marriage plot. What are we really talking about when we talk about marriage? And what are we really doing when we say, ‘I do’?
Entertaining, illuminating, candid and consoling, On Marriage is a critique and a celebration of the many contradictions of matrimony – its sorrows as well as its joys – and an enquiry into its effects on us all.
Devorah Baum is a visionary writer. Her intellectual depth, her emotional precision and her searing insight can only be gathered under an old fashioned word: wisdom. If more ‘self-help’ was written by people as smart and emotionally intuitive as Devorah than more people would actually feel ‘helped. Zadie Smith
On Marriage is a hugely thought-provoking, witty, warm tour around every significant writer and thinker on love to have emerged since Adam and Eve. Baum is a charming guide to the wisdom of her inspiring judiciously curated cohort. Alain de Botton
Devorah Baum is the author of Feeling Jewish and The Jewish Joke: an essay with examples (less essay, more examples). With Josh Appignanesi she is co-director, producer and performer of the films The New Man and Husband, which investigate the intimate dynamics of the filmmakers’ own marriage. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Guardian, Tate Etc and the Financial Times. She is Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Southampton.
Anouchka Grose is a psychoanalyst and writer practising in London. She is a member of The Centre for Freudian Research, where she regularly lectures. Her books include: No More Silly Love Songs: a realist’s guide to romance (Portobello, 2010), Are you Considering Therapy (Karnac, 2011), From Anxiety to Zoolander: notes on psychoanalysis (Karnac, 2018) and A Guide to Eco-Anxiety: how to protect the planet and your mental health (Watkins, 2020). She also writes about art and fashion, and contributes to The Guardian, Radio 4, and Resonance FM. Her latest publication is Fashion a Manifesto (Notting Hill Editions, 2023).
