Returns Of The French Freud

Creating a snapshot of current thinking about psychoanalysis, this lively collection examines the legacy of Freud and Lacan. Through provocative and penetrating arguments, the contributors take psychoanalysis to task for 0ts dark view of human nature, theoretical sorcery, devaluation of femininity, self-referentiality, discipleship, negativity, ignorance of history and more. The essays also examine the complex relationships between Freudian and Lacanian theory and philosophy, feminism, anthropology, communications theory, deconstruction, Foucauldian genealogy and medical history. The outstanding list of contributors includes Paul Roazen, Francois Roustang, John Forrester, Rodolphe Gasche, Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen and Jacques Derrida.

Among the numerous introductions to Lacan published to date in English, Philippe Julien's work is certainly outstanding. Beyond its conceptual clarity the book constitutes an excellent guide to Lacanian psychoanalytic practice. --Andr Patsalides, Psychoanalyst and President, Lacanian School of Psychoanalysis From 1953 to 1980, Jacques Lacan sought to accomplish a return to Freud beyond post- Freudianism. He defined this return as a new convenant with the meaning to the Freudian discovery. Each year through his teaching, he brought about this return. What was at stake in this renewal? Philippe Julien, who joined Lacan's Ecole Freudienne de Paris in 1968, attempts to answer this question. Situtated in the period after-Lacan, Julien shows that Lacan's return to Freud was neither a closing of the Freudian text by responding to questions left unanswered nor a reopening of the text by giving endless new interpretations. Neither dogmatic nor hermeneutic, Lacan's return to Frued was the return of an inevitable discordance between our experience of the unconscious and any attempt to give an account of it. For the unconscious, by its very nature, disappears at the same moment as it is discovered. It is in this sense that the author can claim that Lacan's return to Freud will have been Freudian. Constantly challenging the reader to submit to the rigors of Lacan's sinuous thinking, this penetrating work goes far beyond being a mere introduction. Rendered into elegant English by the American translator, who added numerous footnotes and scholarly references to the French original, this study brings Lacanian scholarship among English readers to a new level of sophistication. Neither dogmatic nor hermeneutic, Lacan's return to Freud was the return of an inevitable discordance between our experience of the unconscious and any attempt to give an account of it. For the unconscious, by its very nature, disappears at the same moment as it is discovered. It is in this sense that the author can claim that Lacan's return to Freud was Freudian.

Lacan and Levi-Strauss are often mentioned together in reviews of French structuralist thought, but what really links their distinct projects? In this important study, the author shows how Lacan's famous 'return to Freud' was only made possible through Lacan's reading of Levi-Strauss. Via a careful and illuminating comparison of the work of the psychoanalyst and that of the anthropologist, Zafiropoulos shows how Lacan's theories of the symbolic function, of the power of language, of the role of the father and even of the unconscious itself owe a major debt to Levi-Strauss. Lacan and Levi-Strauss is much more than an academic study of the relations between these two thinkers: it is also a superb introduction to the work of Lacan, setting out with detail and lucidity the major concepts of his work in the 1950s.

A fundamental reassessment of the meaning of Freud's last phase of work: the applied psychoanalysis of culture and society.

Killing Freud takes the reader on a journey through the 20th century, tracing the work and influence of one of its greatest icons, Sigmund Freud. A devastating critique, Killing Freud ranges across the strange case of Anna O, the hysteria of Josef Breuer, the love of dogs, the Freud industry, the role of gossip and fiction, bad manners, pop psychology and French philosophy, figure skating on thin ice, and contemporary therapy culture. A map to the Freudian minefield and a masterful negotiation of high theory and low culture, Killing Freud is a witty and fearless revaluation of psychoanalysis and its real place in 20th century history. It will appeal to anyone curious about the life of the mind after the death of Freud.

A fundamental reassessment of the Freud legend that aims to shake the very foundations of Freud studies.

This volume consists of 18 contributions from prominent figures in psychoanalysis. In five sections, they examine the social, historical, and intellectual context within which Freud lived and worked, and the scientific, moral, and philosophical implications of his discoveries.

Against Freud is a highly accessible, informative, and entertaining examination of Freud's controversial ideas and legacy by the world's most knowledgeable critics of psychoanalysis.