What does it mean to give a "gift"? In this timely collection, distinguished anthropologists-Maurice Godelier, George Marcus, Stephen Tyler-and philosophers-Mark C. Taylor, John D. Caputo, Jean-Joseph Goux and Adriaan Peperzak, explore an enigma that has disturbed contemporary philosophers from Marcel Mauss to Jacques Derrida. The essays included in the volume: Some Things You Give, Some Things You Sell, But Some Things You Must Keep for Yourselves: What Mauss Did Not Say about Sacred Objects by Maurice Godelie. The Gift and Globalization: A Prolegomenon to the Anthropological Study of Contemporary Finance Capital and Its Mentalities by George Marcus Capitalizing (on) Gifting by Mark C. Taylor "Even Steven" or "No Strings Attached" by Stephen Tyler Mothering, Co-muni-cation and the Gifts of Language by Genevieve Vaughan The Time of Giving, the Time of Forgiving by John D. Caputo Seneca against Derrida: Gift and Alterity by Jean-Joseph Goux Giving by Adriaan Peperzak

This volume of twelve essays focuses on two interrelated issues. First, it addresses the historical and cultural determinants that have given rise to what frequently has been described as "the French exception," the unusually conflictual French political process inherited from the revolutionary past in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and its accompanying avant-gardism in artistic, literary, and philosophical practice, both of which distinguish France from other European countries.
Second, the contributors assess the exhaustion of this tradition in recent years--noted prominently on the occasion of the celebration of the bicentennial of the Revolution in 1989--in a progressive "normalization" of French society that has been the final outcome of the liquidation of the colonial empire, the collapse of Marxism as a social force, and the integration of France into the European Union.
The contributors are Jean-Marie Apostolides, Marc Auge, Barbara Cassin, Francoise Gaillard, Maurice Godelier, Jean-Joseph Goux, Francoise Lionnet, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Mark Poster, Pierre Saint-Amand, Susan Suleiman, and Philip R. Wood.

If the logic of the Oedipus myth were subjected to rigorous and thoroughgoing analysis with the tools of anthropology, comparative mythology, and narratology, might it invalidate the approach to the 'Oedipus complex' that Freud derived from his psychoanalytic experience? This book answers 'yes', arguing that instead of the Oedipus complex explaining the myth, the Oedipus myth explains the complex. The author argues that the Oedipus myth is an historical anomaly, a myth of failed royal investiture or of avoided masculine initiation. Does this mean that we must return to the wisdom of tradition and strike out twenty-five centuries of Oedipal history? The author knows very well that such a solution would be fantasy, and he concludes by speculating on how his analysis might contribute to a vision that has eluded Freudian psychoanalysis: how to surpass the Oedipus complex, with all the ethical consequences this would entail.

This volume of twelve essays focuses on two interrelated issues. First, it addresses the historical and cultural determinants that have given rise to what frequently has been described as "the French exception," the unusually conflictual French political process inherited from the revolutionary past in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and its accompanying avant-gardism in artistic, literary, and philosophical practice, both of which distinguish France from other European countries.
Second, the contributors assess the exhaustion of this tradition in recent years--noted prominently on the occasion of the celebration of the bicentennial of the Revolution in 1989--in a progressive "normalization" of French society that has been the final outcome of the liquidation of the colonial empire, the collapse of Marxism as a social force, and the integration of France into the European Union.
The contributors are Jean-Marie Apostolides, Marc Auge, Barbara Cassin, Francoise Gaillard, Maurice Godelier, Jean-Joseph Goux, Francoise Lionnet, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Mark Poster, Pierre Saint-Amand, Susan Suleiman, and Philip R. Wood.

What does it mean to give a "gift"? In this timely collection, distinguished anthropologists-Maurice Godelier, George Marcus, Stephen Tyler-and philosophers-Mark C. Taylor, John D. Caputo, Jean-Joseph Goux and Adriaan Peperzak, explore an enigma that has disturbed contemporary philosophers from Marcel Mauss to Jacques Derrida. The essays included in the volume: Some Things You Give, Some Things You Sell, But Some Things You Must Keep for Yourselves: What Mauss Did Not Say about Sacred Objects by Maurice Godelie. The Gift and Globalization: A Prolegomenon to the Anthropological Study of Contemporary Finance Capital and Its Mentalities by George Marcus Capitalizing (on) Gifting by Mark C. Taylor "Even Steven" or "No Strings Attached" by Stephen Tyler Mothering, Co-muni-cation and the Gifts of Language by Genevieve Vaughan The Time of Giving, the Time of Forgiving by John D. Caputo Seneca against Derrida: Gift and Alterity by Jean-Joseph Goux Giving by Adriaan Peperzak

A major participant in the influential Tel Quel group in France, Jean-Joseph Goux here offers a bold reevaluation of both the Marxist economic model and the Freudian concept of the unconscious. Symbolic Economies makes available for the first time in English generous selections from Goux's Freud, Marx: Economie et symbolique (1973) and Les iconoclastes (1978). Goux brings the theories of historical materialism and of psychoanalysis into play to illuminate and enrich each other, and undertakes a compelling integration of the contributions of structuralism and post-structuralism. Looking closely at the work of such major figures as Lacan, Derrida, and Nietzsche, Goux extends the implications of Marxism and Freudianism to an interdisciplinary semiotics of value and proposes a radical concept of exchange. Literary theorists, philosophers, social scientists, cultural historians, and feminist critics alike will welcome this important and provocative work.

It is well known that in formulating his general theoretical framework and views on religion Freud drew on multiple disciplines within the natural and social sciences, as well as from the humanities. This edited collection adds to the continued multidisciplinary interest in Freud by focusing on his understanding and interpretation of_as well as his relationship to_religion. It 'disciplines' Freud by situating his work on religion from the methodological interests and theoretical advances found in diverse disciplinary contexts. Scholars within the field of religious studies, Jewish Studies, philosophy, and the natural sciences bring together their diverse voices to heighten the academic understanding of Freud on religion. The contributors aim to establish closer and more direct interdisciplinary communication and collaboration with regard to Freudian Studies. This volume should appeal to a wide range of scholars, for upper level undergraduate and graduate classes and those training in psychoanalysis.