Word to the Wise

Françoise Davoine obtained an Agregation in classics (French literature, Latin and Greek) in 1966, followed by a doctorate in sociology in 1981, before becoming a psychoanalyst. She worked for thirty years as a psychoanalyst in public psychiatric hospitals in France, as well as an external consultant, and is currently in private practice. Jean-Max Gaudillière became a psychoanalyst and member of the Ecole Freudienne in Paris and worked as a psychoanalyst in public psychiatric hospitals, where he discovered the impact of the historical catastrophies reflected in the symptoms of patients confined to asylums.

‘Don Quixote is the world’s best-selling novel, and like all masterpieces, it is inexhaustible. Freud was not the only one using literature to feed his theoretical thinking. Similarly, the authors of this book come up with new theories of the psyche, in this case of the widespread social ill of perversion, out of a creative encounter between literature and their clinical practice, as well as their life-long impassionate theoretical reflection. Thanks to a thorough knowledge of cultural history from the Middle Ages to the present, they demonstrate how cultural works have things to say that we can use on behalf of contemporary society.’-Mieke Bal, Professor, ASCA (Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis), Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences‘With their customary elegance, erudition and, even, attitude, Francoise Davoine and Jean-Max Gaudilliere re-introduce us to their supervisor, Don Quixote, through whom they, with Cervantes, illuminate - no, expose - the psycho-political illness of our own time: perversion, the totalitarianism that enforces it and the envy that drives it. A literary adventure, a clinical tour de force, and true.’- M. Gerard Fromm, Distinguished Faculty, Erikson Institute, Austen Riggs Center, USA; President, International Dialogue Initiative; Author, Lost in Transmission

• Acknowledg ements -- Abo ut the author s -- Chapter One -- The child rebels -- Chapter Two -- Bion—Quixote -- Chapter Three -- Accomplices -- Chapter Four -- Fuenteovejuna -- Chapter Five -- On the road again! -- Chapter Six -- Post-scriptum -- References -- Index