By Kelly van der Meulen & Kees Müller
In a world that is thoroughly defined by the material, FRAME’s
current issue examines the ways in which literature can represent the
mind and its different manifestations in all its complexity. Aiming
to democratise understandings of the human psyche, ‘Writing the Mind’ encourages transmedial explorations of the mental realm, while being acutely aware of the danger of dualism that inheres in employing these concepts. For that reason, this issue envisions fruitful thought of the mind to be equally mindful of the material and physical reality that people’s mental lives are inextricably bound to.
In choosing ‘Writing the Mind’ as 34.2’s theme, we hope to show the importance of text in any shape or form for our consideration of the mind. We want to emphasize that we have chosen ‘Writing the Mind’ rather than something akin to “Literature and Mental Health,” as we want to broaden understandings of the human psyche, which includes more than mental health and mental disorders alone. When we speak about “the mind,” we take it to mean both one’s individual psychology as well as the socio-political and cultural dimensions that affect all of us. We hope that this issue of FRAME adds to and embellishes our understanding of the mind as both a cultural artifact and social product.