Gail N. Newman

Gail N. Newman, Harold J. Henry Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Williams College, studies subjectivity and psychoanalytic readings of literature. She discusses resisting neoliberal self-optimization. Conversations range from Winnicott’s relational ideas and the creative uses of the false self to Milner’s valuing of solitude, mortality’s influence on thought, and quiet radicalism in teaching and care.

Gail N. Newman, Harold J. Henry Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Williams College, is a scholar of subjectivity and psychoanalytic readings of literature. She discusses how neoliberal pressure erodes solitude and creativity. Short, sharp conversations explore Winnicott and Milner, the value of emptiness, friendship as holding, and small acts of resistance against perpetual productivity.

Gail N. Newman, Harold J. Henry Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Williams College, studies subjectivity and psychoanalytic readings of literature. She discusses how neoliberal pressure crushes creativity and the value of solitude, chosen family, and emptiness. Conversations trace Milner and Winnicott, explore relationality and diagnosis, and consider small acts of resistance to relentless self‑optimization.