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The powerful thesis of this book is that in order to achieve full
selfhood we must all repeatedly and endlessly kill the phantasmatic
image of ourselves instilled in us by our parents. We must all
combat what the author calls "primary narcissism," a projection of
the child our parents wanted. This idea--that each of us carries as
a burden an unconscious secret of our parents, a hidden desire that
we are made to live out but that we must kill in order to "be
born"--touches on some of the fundamental issues of psychoanalytic
theory. Around it, the author builds an intricate analysis of the
relation between primary narcissism and the death drive.
Each of the book's five chapters begins with one or more case
studies drawn from the author's clinical experience as a
psychoanalyst. In these studies he links his central concern--the
image of the child created by the unconscious desire of the
parents--to other issues, such as the question of love, the concept
of the subject, and the death drive. In the penultimate chapter, on
transference, the author challenges the commonplace understanding
of the analyst's impassivity. What does such impassivity imply,
especially in the context of a "transferential love" between a
female patient and a male analyst? In replying to this question,
the author forcefully reassesses the relation of psychoanalysis to
femininity, to the question "What does a woman want?"
Serge Leclaire's overarching thesis leads to a provocative
rereading of the Oedipal configuration. Leclaire suggests that he
is inhabited, pursued, haunted, and debilitated by the child who
should have died in order that Oedipus might have been born into
life.
The powerful thesis of this book is that in order to achieve full
selfhood we must all repeatedly and endlessly kill the phantasmatic
image of ourselves instilled in us by our parents. We must all
combat what the author calls "primary narcissism," a projection of
the child our parents wanted. This idea--that each of us carries as
a burden an unconscious secret of our parents, a hidden desire that
we are made to live out but that we must kill in order to "be
born"--touches on some of the fundamental issues of psychoanalytic
theory. Around it, the author builds an intricate analysis of the
relation between primary narcissism and the death drive.
Each of the book's five chapters begins with one or more case
studies drawn from the author's clinical experience as a
psychoanalyst. In these studies he links his central concern--the
image of the child created by the unconscious desire of the
parents--to other issues, such as the question of love, the concept
of the subject, and the death drive. In the penultimate chapter, on
transference, the author challenges the commonplace understanding
of the analyst's impassivity. What does such impassivity imply,
especially in the context of a "transferential love" between a
female patient and a male analyst? In replying to this question,
the author forcefully reassesses the relation of psychoanalysis to
femininity, to the question "What does a woman want?"
Serge Leclaire's overarching thesis leads to a provocative
rereading of the Oedipal configuration. Leclaire suggests that he
is inhabited, pursued, haunted, and debilitated by the child who
should have died in order that Oedipus might have been born into
life.
Scarcely any theoretical discourse has had greater impact on
literary and cultural studies than psychoanalysis, and yet hardly
any theoretical discourse is more widely misunderstood and abused.
In "Psychoanalyzing," Serge Leclaire offers a thorough and lucid
exposition of the psychoanalysis that has emerged from the French
"return to Freud," unfolding and elaborating the often enigmatic
pronouncements of Jacques Lacan and patiently working through the
central tenets of the "Ecole freudienne." As a concise but nuanced
introduction to the subject, "Psychoanalyzing" will prove
indispensable to anyone interested in psychoanalysis, especially
those curious about its Lacanian reconceptualization and the
linguistic theory of the unconscious and its effects.
Leclaire's study is particularly valuable for the way its author
links theoretical issues to psychoanalytic practice. The opening
chapter--on listening--highlights the necessity, and the
impossibility, of the "floating attention" required from the
analyst, while preparing the reader for the following chapters,
which deal with such topics as unconscious desire, how to speak of
the body, and the intrication of the object and the "letter" (i.e.
the signifier, the "material support that concrete discourse
borrows from language"). The final chapter--on transference--shows
how the analytical dialogue differs from other dialogues.
Despite the intricacy of its subject matter, the book takes very
little for granted. It does not simplify the issues it presents,
but does not assume a reader familiar with the concepts of
psychoanalysis, let alone a reader acquainted with its French
inflection. Each basic concept and term is carefully explained, so
that the reader knows the meaning of "transference" or "primal
scene" before proceeding to more advanced elements of
psychoanalysis. Leclaire's text is not intended merely to be "user
friendly"; its purpose is to clarify and advance, rather than to
impress or convert.
Scarcely any theoretical discourse has had greater impact on
literary and cultural studies than psychoanalysis, and yet hardly
any theoretical discourse is more widely misunderstood and abused.
In "Psychoanalyzing," Serge Leclaire offers a thorough and lucid
exposition of the psychoanalysis that has emerged from the French
"return to Freud," unfolding and elaborating the often enigmatic
pronouncements of Jacques Lacan and patiently working through the
central tenets of the "Ecole freudienne." As a concise but nuanced
introduction to the subject, "Psychoanalyzing" will prove
indispensable to anyone interested in psychoanalysis, especially
those curious about its Lacanian reconceptualization and the
linguistic theory of the unconscious and its effects.
Leclaire's study is particularly valuable for the way its author
links theoretical issues to psychoanalytic practice. The opening
chapter--on listening--highlights the necessity, and the
impossibility, of the "floating attention" required from the
analyst, while preparing the reader for the following chapters,
which deal with such topics as unconscious desire, how to speak of
the body, and the intrication of the object and the "letter" (i.e.
the signifier, the "material support that concrete discourse
borrows from language"). The final chapter--on transference--shows
how the analytical dialogue differs from other dialogues.
Despite the intricacy of its subject matter, the book takes very
little for granted. It does not simplify the issues it presents,
but does not assume a reader familiar with the concepts of
psychoanalysis, let alone a reader acquainted with its French
inflection. Each basic concept and term is carefully explained, so
that the reader knows the meaning of "transference" or "primal
scene" before proceeding to more advanced elements of
psychoanalysis. Leclaire's text is not intended merely to be "user
friendly"; its purpose is to clarify and advance, rather than to
impress or convert.
Concept and Form is a two-volume monument to the work of the
philosophy journal the Cahiers pour l'Analyse (1966-69), the most
ambitious and radical collective project to emerge from French
structuralism. Inspired by their teachers Louis Althusser and
Jacques Lacan, the editors of the Cahiers sought to sever
philosophy from the interpretation of given meanings or
experiences, focusing instead on the mechanisms that structure
specific configurations of discourse, from the psychological and
ideological to the literary, scientific, and political. Adequate
analysis of the operations at work in these configurations, they
argue, helps prepare the way for their revolutionary
transformation. This first volume comprises English translations of
some of the most important theoretical texts published in the
journal, written by thinkers who would soon be counted among the
most inventive and influential of their generation: Alain Badiou,
Yves Duroux, Alain Grosrichard, Serge Leclaire, Jacques-Alain
Miller, Jean-Claude Milner, and Francois Regnault. The book is
complemented by a second volume, consisting of essays and
interviews that assess the significance and legacy of the journal,
and by an online edition of the full set of original Cahiers texts,
produced by the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy
at Kingston University, London and accessible at
cahiers.kingston.ac.uk.
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