Walking on Fire: The Shaping Force of Emotion in Writing Drama

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments Patricia Mannion spent hours transcribing conversations between Digby Wolfe and me, conversations that were midwife to this book. Patricia’s unfailing encouragement pushed the talk into real pages. I relied on the wisdom and experience of psychologist Dr. Samuel Roll, who, if he wasn’t making me laugh or telling me useful stories from his experience , offered insights that helped ground the relationship between psychoanalytic theory and drama. My thanks to psychiatrist David Landau and psychologist Marcia Landau, his spouse, who introduced me to the work of the International Conference on Literature and Psychoanalysis. David and I jointly presented papers on two topics that became part of this book: Brecht’s Puntila and His Servant Matti and Pinter’s Birthday Party. Their generous and perceptive interest in this project was an unfailing source of support. My thanks to colleagues in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of New Mexico, who support the Writing Program, and to my students, who have contributed so much to my thinking about the process of writing and teaching. Thanks to my friend Jim Danneskiold, who took on the task of editing these pages with sympathy and conceptual clarity. Finally, my wife and friend, Jennifer, for her dim view of difficulty and her fearless belief in and embrace of the creative process and me. Our children are all in the arts, one in architecture and two in film. Our life together and their choices in making art give extra meaning to my journey as a writer engaged with this book. My son Matt particularly shares the task of walking on fire as a young screenwriter. All writing is personal, so, from father to son, may this work be a useful guide for him on the journey ahead. ix Walking on Fire ...