A day in the life: Dreaming rock with Donald Winnicott

Journal title SETTING
Author/s Vittorio Gonella
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2025/49
Language Italian Pages 10 P. 63-72 File size 36 KB
DOI 10.3280/SET2025-049005
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This article is the product of a rêverie that took shape in the author's mind while listening to the music of the Beatles and, at the same time, reading some of Winnicott’s writings: this associative moment gave way to the writing of this story in which, starting from the words of Winnicott’s wife Clare, the author proposes to the reader a brief journey, between reality and fantasy, historical facts and imagined episodes, in ‘A day in the life’ of Donald Winnicott listening to the songs of the Beatles. The author's aim is to propose a dialogue between psychoanalysis and rock music, convinced that the latter has not over the decades merely given voice to the new generation, but has been an extraordinary art form of the subjective, in which the artist has been able to find a holding structure for his or her own self and any traumatic experiences. It is the author’s opinion that the oniric characteristic of the writing allows for a better attunement with the themes related to art, and its usefulness as a great ally of analytical listening.

Keywords: Art, holding, trauma, rock, Self.

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Vittorio Gonella, A day in the life: sognando rock con Donald Winnicott in "SETTING" 49/2025, pp 63-72, DOI: 10.3280/SET2025-049005