By turns playful, mischievous, irritating and deep, Leader gives us
another of his trademark performances. Written as an alternative to
standard psychoanalytic histories that are often little more than
chronologies of the great personalities of the past, Leader
footnotes who was arguing with whom and about what at certain
critical points in the history of psychoanalysis. Among the issues
that his method successfully illuminates are the problematic
concept of the human inner world, the question of tact and timing
in therapeutic interventions and the crucial psychoanalytic concept
of working through. Shunning the all too customary practice of
pathologizing 'false' theories Leader locates the clinical problems
for which these theories were solutions. Klein's theories are seen
to arise from the unbearable anxieties children can experience at
the hands of their parents; Lacan's emphasis on language and logic
follows from the recognition that symptoms and dreams occur
frequently in pairs: the meaning is revealed in the character of
the linguistic transformations between the two. In a welcome
alternative to the excesses of classical interpretations, Leader
stresses the importance of asking what a symptom is for, rather
than what does it mean. Leader concludes with a fine application of
his method, an essential chapter on Klein, Lacan and the depressive
position showing clearly the clinical problems faced by each
theorist, the relationship between Klein's depressive position and
Lacan's mirror phase and concluding with a call for engagement
rather than divorce between differing orientations in
psychoanalysis. A book to be read selectively and carefully. Review
by JOSEPH SCHWARTZ Editor's note: Joseph Schwartz's book's include
Cassandra's Daughter: A History of Psychoanalysis in Europe and
America which was published last year. (Kirkus UK)
There are many footnotes to Freud, but Freud himself is never a
mere footnote. What makes him so special? Each of Freud's works
should make us ask the question, why did he write this? What
footnotes do we need to put Freud in perspective, and to revive the
neglected problems of psychoanalytic theory? In Freud's Footnotes,
Darian Leader brings to life debates in the history and theory of
psychoanalysis, opening up new perspectives on areas that are all
too often taken for granted. Leader explores the questions that
preoccupied Freud and his followers. He shows how their theories
were formed and modified, and situates their contributions in the
history of ideas. Contexts and influences, revisions and apparently
insignificant details are brought to the foreground in an important
study which is characteristically profound, witty and persuasive.
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