SOURCE: "Knuts," in New Statesman, Vol. 96, No. 2469, July 14, 1978, pp. 55-6.

In the following review of Conversations with Children, Dinnage contends that, while the transcribed conversations between Laing's children are interesting at times, and may in fact raise serious "theoretical considerations." Laing is simply wrong to claim that this kind of material has never before been published.

R. D. Laing has protested against being considered a gloomy fellow who sees no hope for the human race, and wants to show that he has another side; also he has a writing problem ('Natasha: why are you feeling sad?… Ronnie: I want to write things but I don't seem able to. Natasha: why are you not able to? Ronnie: I don't know'). So he has cribbed from a couple of non-alienated, un-mystified human beings and presents, without comment, scraps of conversation he has recorded over six years with his youngest...