What in Me is Dark? Paradise Lost & Psychoanalysis

Organised by:

British Psychoanalytic Association

Description

The Poetic Mind Seminar

Saturday 31st January 2026 11am – 1pm

What in Me is Dark? Paradise Lost and Psychoanalysis
Prof Orlando Reade
Chair David Howell Morgan

Hybrid – In-person and online
89 Prince of Wales Road, NW5 3NT & Online via Zoom

This talk will explore the key psychological insights of John Milton’s Paradise Lost and describe its influence on psychoanalytic thinkers including Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Melanie Klein, as well as the controversial clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson. Traversing the inner landscapes of Satan, Adam, and Eve, it will reveal how Milton’s epic thinks about dreams, envy, temptation, guilt, and reparation.

Orlando Reade is the author of What in Me is Dark: The Revolutionary Life of Paradise Lost (2024). He studied English at Cambridge and Princeton, where he received his PhD in 2020. He writes about contemporary culture and politics for publications including The Financial Times, The New Statesman, and The Nation. He is currently Assistant Professor of English at Northeastern University London.

Book tickets