This book provides a timely exploration and comparison of key concepts in the theories of Melanie Klein and Jacques Lacan, two thinkers and clinicians whose influence over the development of psychoanalysis in the wake of Freud has been profound and far-reaching. Whilst the centrality of the unconscious is a strong conviction shared by both Klein and Lacan, there are also many differences between the two schools of thought and the clinical work that is produced in each. The purpose of this collection is to take seriously these similarities and differences. Deeply relevant to both theoretical reflection and clinical work, the New Klein-Lacan Dialogues should make interesting reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, mental health professionals, scholars and all those who wish to know more about these two leading figures in the field of psychoanalysis.The collection centres around key concepts such as: 'symbolic function', the 'ego', the 'object', the 'body', 'trauma', 'autism', 'affect' and 'history and archives'.

Why do human beings feel shame? What is the cultural dimension of shame and sexuality? Can theory understand the power of affect? How is psychoanalysis integral to cultural theory?

The experience of shame is a profound, painful and universal emotion with lasting effects on many aspects of public life and human culture. Rooted in childhood experience, linked to sexuality and the cultural norms which regulate the body and its pleasures, shame is uniquely human. Shame and Sexuality: Psychoanalysis and Visual Culture explores elements of shame in human psychology and the cultures of art, film, photography and textiles.

This volume is divided into two distinct sections allowing the reader to compare and contrast the psychoanalytic and the cultural writings. Part one, Psychoanalysis, provides a psychoanalytic approach to shame, using clinical examples to explore the function of unconscious fantasies, the shame shield in child sexual abuse, and the puzzling manner in which shame attaches itself to sexuality. Part two, Visual culture, is illustrated throughout with textual analysis; contributors explore shame and sexuality in art history, politics and contemporary visual culture, including the gendering of shame, shame and abjection, and the relationship between shame and shamelessness as a strategy of resistance.

Claire Pajaczkowska and Ivan Ward bring together debates within and between the discourses of psychoanalysis and visual culture, generating new avenues of enquiry for scholars of culture, theory and psychoanalysis.

Re-opening a dialogue first attempted with great success in 1995 (The Klein-Lacan Dialogues, organized by Catalina Bronstein and Bernard Burgoyne), this book is based on a new international seminar series collaboratively organized by colleagues at UCL, Middlesex University, and the Royal College of Art and held in 2011 under the auspices of the UCL Psychoanalysis Unit.This book provides a timely exploration and comparison of key concepts in the theories of Melanie Klein and Jacques Lacan, two thinkers and clinicians whose influence over the development of psychoanalysis in the wake of Freud has been profound and far-reaching. While the centrality of the unconscious is a strong conviction shared by both Klein and Lacan, there are also many differences between the two schools of thought and the clinical work that is produced in each. The purpose of this collection is to take seriously these similarities and differences.Deeply relevant to both theoretical reflection and clinical work, "The New Klein-Lacan Dialogues" should make interesting reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, mental health professionals, scholars and all those who wish to know more about these two leading figures in the field of psychoanalysis.The collection centers around key concepts such as: symbolic function, the ego, the object, the body, trauma, autism, affect and history and archives. The contributors are internationally renowned writers and clinicians and include: Eva Bahovec, Lionel Bailly, Rachel Blass, Ronald Britton, Catalina Bronstein, Bernard Burgoyne, Robert Hinshelwood, Roberto Ileyassoff, Marie-Christine Laznik, Elias Mallet da Rocha Barros, Catherine Mathelin-Vanier, Maria Rhode, Elisabeth Roudinesco, Richard Rusbridger, Michael Rustin, Paul Verhaeghe and Marcus Vieria.

Why do human beings feel shame? What is the cultural dimension of shame and sexuality? Can theory understand the power of affect? How is psychoanalysis integral to cultural theory? The experience of shame is a profound, painful and universal emotion with lasting effects on many aspects of public life and human culture. Rooted in childhood experience, linked to sexuality and the cultural norms which regulate the body and its pleasures, shame is uniquely human. Shame and Sexuality explores elements of shame in human psychology and the cultures of art, film, photography and textiles. This volume is divided into two distinct sections allowing the reader to compare and contrast the psychoanalytic and the cultural writings. Part I, Psychoanalysis, provides a psychoanalytic approach to shame, using clinical examples to explore the function of unconscious fantasies, the shame shield in child sexual abuse, and the puzzling manner in which shame attaches itself to sexuality. Part II, Visual Culture, is illustrated throughout with textual analysis; contributors explore shame and sexuality in art history, politics and contemporary visual culture, including the gendering of shame, shame and abjection, and the relationship between shame and shamelessness as a strategy of resistance. Claire Pajaczkowska and Ivan Ward bring together debates within and between the discourses of psychoanalysis and visual culture, generating new avenues of enquiry for scholars of culture, theory and psychoanalysis.

The Sublime has been considered an archaic concept the relevance of which was limited to eighteenth-century discourses on art, literary criticism and aesthetics. But it is becoming obvious that contemporary culture requires of us a response that is at once emotional, critical, powerful and meaningful, and recently the issue of the sublime has found its way back onto the critical agenda. This book asks a series of critical questions about this resurgence: What is the legacy of the discourse of the sublime for us today? In what ways has it acquired an added urgency in our new millennium? To what extent is this concept a useful or dangerous tool for the understanding of contemporary culture and history? How does the Sublime follow the Post Modern? To what uses can and should it be put? Why the Sublime now? The editors have collected writings from many contemporary thinkers who bring the critical concept of the sublime into their discussions of contemporary cultures. Spanning philosophy, religion, ecology, politics, literature, avant-garde art, popular cinema, comic books, humour and digital cultures these essays consider the relevance of the sublime now. The authors make provocative readings of the original writings on the sublime, from Longinus, Burke, Kant and Nietzsche, to Freud, Lyotard, Derrida, Kristeva and others whilst bringing these writings to bear on today's cultural issues.