Abby Kluchin

Abby Kluchin and Patrick Blanchfield dive into the impactful work of D. W. Winnicott, a cornerstone of British psychoanalysis. They explore how WWII influenced his theories and the evolution of maternal roles in psychoanalysis. The conversation highlights how negative emotions can foster creativity, contrasting Winnicott's views with traditional psychoanalytic perspectives. They also discuss the complexities of caregiving and its societal undervaluation, all while shedding light on the emotional dynamics between parents and children and how these insights are relevant today.

Abby Kluchin, public scholar and co-founder of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, joins to map romantasy as a pandemic-era craze. They unpack hit titles, TikTok fandom, and genre tropes. Conversations trace trauma, healing, age-gap dynamics, ritualized initiation, and how fantasy functions as adult play and reparative imagination.

Abby Kluchin, psychoanalytic scholar and host of Ordinary Unhappiness, explores the romantasy boom. She traces its rise, fan-driven amplification on BookTok, and why pandemic reading found comfort in sweeping fantasy-romance mixes. Conversations cover formulaic heroine types, trauma-healing arcs, and how serial, sensual worldbuilding creates immersive, therapeutic reading experiences.