Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research Library (CFAR) – serie

Hysteria, one of the most diagnosed conditions in human history, is also one of the most problematic. Can it even be said to exist at all? Since the earliest medical texts people have had something to say about 'feminine complaints'. Over the centuries, theorisations of the root causes have lurched from the physiological to the psychological to the socio-political. Thanks to its dual association with femininity and with fakery, the notion of hysteria inevitably provokes questions about women, men, sex, bodies, minds, culture, happiness and unhappiness. To some, it may seem extraordinary that such a contested diagnosis could continue to merit any mention whatsoever. Hysteria Today is a collection of essays whose purpose is to reopen the case for hysteria and to see what relevance, if any, the term may have within contemporary clinical practice.

Lacan developed his theory and practice of psychoanalysis on the basis of Freud's original work. In his "return to Freud" he not only elaborated and revised some of Freud's innovative ideas, but turned to important questions and problems in Freud's theory that had remained obscure and unresolved, and provided a new way of articulating these issues and their implication for psychoanalytic theory and practice. This book offers a selection of chapters about some of the fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis. The authors aim to explore the trajectory of the development of these concepts from their original basis in Freud's work to their elaboration by Lacan. The book will be of interest to readers from different backgrounds, including the clinical and academic field, social and cultural studies and the arts, for whom psychoanalytic ideas may be a relatively new field to explore, or who are looking for new perspectives to develop their ideas about psychoanalysis.

If advances in medical technology now allow babies to be born earlier and survive premature birth, what of the psychical impact of this emergence into the world? What consequences can premature birth have for babies, for their families, and for the medical staff around them? In this exciting and inspiring study, the author describes the work she has undertaken over the past twenty years in a neonatal intensive care unit. She shows how a sensitivity to the subjective experience of all concerned can have dramatic effects, and how a psychoanalytic ear can allow us to understand both the problems and the progress of prematurely born babies in a new way.

Is someone radically different after an analysis? Since Freud, psychoanalysis has been questioned about what the psychoanalytic experience can change in someone's life beyond shedding light on symptoms. Drawing on literature, philosophy and a range of psychoanalytic theorists and practitioners, the author addresses the effects of psychoanalysis on the individual who has the desire and the courage to enter an analytic treatment and take it to its endpoint. The subject bears the marks of his childhood and these have repercussions on the choices that he makes in life. Do these marks determine him or does he have a choice in making his destiny? How do the transformations brought about in the transference change the subject? And does the analysis leave a distinguishing and locatable mark? The author attempts to answer these questions from a Lacanian perspective.

How does one become a man or a woman? Psychoanalysis shows that this is never an easy task and that each of us tackles it in our own, unique way. In this important and original study, the author focuses on what analytic work with psychotic subjects can teach us about the different solutions human beings can construct to the question of sexual identity.Through a careful exposition of Lacanian theory,the author argues that classical gender theory is misguided in its notion of 'gender identity' and that Lacan's concept of 'sexuation' is more precise. Clinical case studies illustrate how sexuation occurs and the ambiguities that may surround it. In psychosis, these ambiguities are often central, and the author explores how they may or may not be resolved thanks to the individual's own constructions. This book is not only a major contribution to gender studies but also an invaluable aid to the clinician dealing with questions of sexual identity.

Freud's invention of psychoanalysis was based on his own desire to know something about the unconscious, but what have been the effects of this original desire on psychoanalysis ever since? How has Freud's desire created symptoms in the history of psychoanalysis? Has it helped or hindered its transmission? Exploring these questions brings Serge Cottet to Lacan's concept of the psychoanalyst's desire: less a particular desire like Freud's and more a function, this is what allows analysts to operate in their practice. It emerges during analysis and is crucial in enabling the analysand to begin working with the unconscious of others when they take on the position of analyst themselves. What is this function and how can it be traced in Freud's work? Cottet's book, first published in 1982 and revised in 1996, is a classic of Lacanian psychoanalysis. It is not only a scholarly study of Freud and Lacan, but a thought-provoking introduction to the key issues of Lacanian psychoanalysis.

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.

This book focuses on Lacan's revisions and renewals of psychoanalytic concepts, and shows the ways in which Lacan succeeded in the reinvention of psychoanalysis. It explores those steps that led him to assert an unprecedented formula that says against all expectation that the unconscious is real.

If psychoanalysis, for Freud, was an impossible profession, what consequences would this have for psychoanalytic training? And if one's own personal analysis lay at the heart of psychoanalytic training, how could what one had learnt from this be transmitted, let alone taught?In this groundbreaking book, the aurhor explores the many attempts that an

This accessible and insightful book merges Lacanian theory, psychoanalytic case studies, and the author’s personal experiences to illuminate the relevance of Lacanian psychoanalysis in mapping contemporary subjectivity.Using examples from cinema, artificial intelligence, and clinical and cultural references, the book covers major topics within the field, including dreams, the mirror phase, psychosis, hysteria, the position of the analyst, the drive, supervision and the symptom. Each is set within the context of our technologically oriented, market-based society and complemented with empirical vignettes. The book’s final section examines contemporary society and radicalization.Lacanian Psychoanalysis from Clinic to Culture is important reading for students and academics in Lacanian psychoanalysis, as well as professionals concerned with complex social problems.

This accessible and insightful book merges Lacanian theory, psychoanalytic case studies, and the author’s personal experiences to illuminate the relevance of Lacanian psychoanalysis in mapping contemporary subjectivity.Using examples from cinema, artificial intelligence, and clinical and cultural references, the book covers major topics within the field, including dreams, the mirror phase, psychosis, hysteria, the position of the analyst, the drive, supervision and the symptom. Each is set within the context of our technologically oriented, market-based society and complemented with empirical vignettes. The book’s final section examines contemporary society and radicalization.Lacanian Psychoanalysis from Clinic to Culture is important reading for students and academics in Lacanian psychoanalysis, as well as professionals concerned with complex social problems.

Lacan and Marx: The Invention of the Symptom provides an incisive commentary on Lacan’s reading of Marx, mapping the relations between these two vastly influential thinkers.Unlike previous books, Bruno provides a detailed history of Lacan’s reading of Marx and surveys his references to Marx in both his writings and seminars. Examining Lacan’s key argument that Marx "invented the symptom", Bruno shows how Lacan went on to criticize Marx and contrasts Marx’s concept of surplus-value with Lacan’s surplus-enjoyment. Exploring the division between Marxist and psychoanalytic perspectives on social and psychological need and Lacan’s formalisation of the capitalist discourse, the book compares the positions of Althusser, Deleuze and Guattari, and Žižek on the relations between Lacan, Marx and capitalism, using a wide range of cultural examples, from Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to Brecht’s Joan Dark and Pierpont Mauler. Through these readings, Bruno also elaborates an extended commentary on Lacan’s central idea of the division of the subject. His focus is not only on showing how we can exit from capitalism but also, and just as importantly, on showing how we can make capitalism exit from us.This book will be of great interest to scholars and readers of Lacan and Marx from across the fields of psychoanalysis, philosophy and political economy, and will also appeal to Lacanian psychoanalysts in clinical practice.

Lacan and Marx: The Invention of the Symptom provides an incisive commentary on Lacan’s reading of Marx, mapping the relations between these two vastly influential thinkers.Unlike previous books, Bruno provides a detailed history of Lacan’s reading of Marx and surveys his references to Marx in both his writings and seminars. Examining Lacan’s key argument that Marx "invented the symptom", Bruno shows how Lacan went on to criticize Marx and contrasts Marx’s concept of surplus-value with Lacan’s surplus-enjoyment. Exploring the division between Marxist and psychoanalytic perspectives on social and psychological need and Lacan’s formalisation of the capitalist discourse, the book compares the positions of Althusser, Deleuze and Guattari, and Žižek on the relations between Lacan, Marx and capitalism, using a wide range of cultural examples, from Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to Brecht’s Joan Dark and Pierpont Mauler. Through these readings, Bruno also elaborates an extended commentary on Lacan’s central idea of the division of the subject. His focus is not only on showing how we can exit from capitalism but also, and just as importantly, on showing how we can make capitalism exit from us.This book will be of great interest to scholars and readers of Lacan and Marx from across the fields of psychoanalysis, philosophy and political economy, and will also appeal to Lacanian psychoanalysts in clinical practice.

Drawing together an international range of psychoanalytic practitioners, this collection provides a critique of mainstream models of autism, looking at the conceptual and ideological underpinnings of the behavioural and cognitive approaches popular today.The first book to provide a psychoanalytic unpacking of standard non-analytic approaches, it offers a series of critical essays on mainstream assumptions, examining their history, foundations, and validity from a variety of angles. The authors consider, from the Lacanian perspective, the hypothesis of the biological-genetic causality of autism, as well as the claims of these approaches to offer effective therapy. These discussions are historically contextualised by an introduction and afterword that also provide pointers and references to further reading on Lacanian approaches to autism.Illustrated throughout by clinical examples, Treating Autism Today will be of interest to Lacanian clinicians and scholars, as well as psychotherapists, psychologists, and those working with children diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum.

The Baby and the Drive presents a new reading of psychoanalytic drive theory, as well as offering clinical tools for early identification of difficulties and intervention with babies and their parents.This volume demonstrates that the concept of the drive is the crucial factor in early life. The drive is presented as a force with pathways that are established in the newborn’s psychic development. Four drive fields are distinguished, which are activated during the first year, and the volume examines the points at which they may encounter difficulties and how these difficulties may be treated. The Baby and the Drive explains that access to the drives and their activation orients work with the newborn—an operation at once fundamental and indispensable if researchers accept the existence of a subject in the newborn.Allowing a new orientation in work with newborns and infants, this volume will be a valuable resource for academics, scholars, and students of Lacanian studies and Lacanian analysis. It will also be of great interest to Lacanian psychologists and Lacanian psychoanalysts in practice and in training.

The Baby and the Drive presents a new reading of psychoanalytic drive theory, as well as offering clinical tools for early identification of difficulties and intervention with babies and their parents.This volume demonstrates that the concept of the drive is the crucial factor in early life. The drive is presented as a force with pathways that are established in the newborn’s psychic development. Four drive fields are distinguished, which are activated during the first year, and the volume examines the points at which they may encounter difficulties and how these difficulties may be treated. The Baby and the Drive explains that access to the drives and their activation orients work with the newborn—an operation at once fundamental and indispensable if researchers accept the existence of a subject in the newborn.Allowing a new orientation in work with newborns and infants, this volume will be a valuable resource for academics, scholars, and students of Lacanian studies and Lacanian analysis. It will also be of great interest to Lacanian psychologists and Lacanian psychoanalysts in practice and in training.

Drawing together an international range of psychoanalytic practitioners, this collection provides a critique of mainstream models of autism, looking at the conceptual and ideological underpinnings of the behavioural and cognitive approaches popular today.The first book to provide a psychoanalytic unpacking of standard non-analytic approaches, it offers a series of critical essays on mainstream assumptions, examining their history, foundations, and validity from a variety of angles. The authors consider, from the Lacanian perspective, the hypothesis of the biological-genetic causality of autism, as well as the claims of these approaches to offer effective therapy. These discussions are historically contextualised by an introduction and afterword that also provide pointers and references to further reading on Lacanian approaches to autism.Illustrated throughout by clinical examples, Treating Autism Today will be of interest to Lacanian clinicians and scholars, as well as psychotherapists, psychologists, and those working with children diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum.

The highly arcane "wisdom" produced by the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan is either endlessly regurgitated and recited as holy writ by his numerous acolytes, or radically dismissed as unpalatable nonsense by his equally countless detractors. Contrary to these common, strictly antagonistic yet uniformly uncritical practices, this book offers a meticulous critique of some key theoretical and clinical aspects of Lacan’s expansive oeuvre, testing their consistency, examining their implications, and investigating their significance.In nine interrelated chapters, the book highlights both the flaws and the strengths of Lacan’s ideas, in areas of investigation that are as crucial as they are contentious, within as well as outside psychoanalysis. Drawing on a vast range of source materials, including many unpublished archival documents, it teases out controversial issues such as money, organisational failure, and lighthearted, "gay" thinking, and it relies on the highest standards of scholarly excellence to develop its arguments. At the same time, the book does not presuppose any prior knowledge of Lacanian psychoanalysis on the part of the reader, but allows its readership to indulge in the joys of in-depth critical analysis, trans-disciplinary creative thinking, and persistent questioning.This book will appeal to researchers and students alike in psychoanalytic studies and philosophy, as well as all those interested in French theory and the history of ideas.

The highly arcane "wisdom" produced by the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan is either endlessly regurgitated and recited as holy writ by his numerous acolytes, or radically dismissed as unpalatable nonsense by his equally countless detractors. Contrary to these common, strictly antagonistic yet uniformly uncritical practices, this book offers a meticulous critique of some key theoretical and clinical aspects of Lacan’s expansive oeuvre, testing their consistency, examining their implications, and investigating their significance.In nine interrelated chapters, the book highlights both the flaws and the strengths of Lacan’s ideas, in areas of investigation that are as crucial as they are contentious, within as well as outside psychoanalysis. Drawing on a vast range of source materials, including many unpublished archival documents, it teases out controversial issues such as money, organisational failure, and lighthearted, "gay" thinking, and it relies on the highest standards of scholarly excellence to develop its arguments. At the same time, the book does not presuppose any prior knowledge of Lacanian psychoanalysis on the part of the reader, but allows its readership to indulge in the joys of in-depth critical analysis, trans-disciplinary creative thinking, and persistent questioning.This book will appeal to researchers and students alike in psychoanalytic studies and philosophy, as well as all those interested in French theory and the history of ideas.

Despite the progress made by psychoanalysis since Freud’s discovery of the sexual nature of the unconscious, analysts have tended to explore psychical causality independently of the role of the biological factors at play in sexuality. What Can We Know About Sex? explains how Lacan’s work allows us to make new links between the sexual laws of discourse, gender and what Freud called the 'biological rock' in human life, allowing a new perspective not only on the history of the sexual couple but on contemporary developments of sexuality in the 21st century. Gisèle Chaboudez’s insights demonstrate that the old phallic logic that has been so dominant is now in the process of being dismantled, opening up the question of how people can relate sexually and what forms of jouissance are at stake for contemporary subjectivity.What Can We Know About Sex? will be a key text for analysts, academics and students of feminism, gender and sexuality.

Despite the progress made by psychoanalysis since Freud’s discovery of the sexual nature of the unconscious, analysts have tended to explore psychical causality independently of the role of the biological factors at play in sexuality. What Can We Know About Sex? explains how Lacan’s work allows us to make new links between the sexual laws of discourse, gender and what Freud called the 'biological rock' in human life, allowing a new perspective not only on the history of the sexual couple but on contemporary developments of sexuality in the 21st century. Gisèle Chaboudez’s insights demonstrate that the old phallic logic that has been so dominant is now in the process of being dismantled, opening up the question of how people can relate sexually and what forms of jouissance are at stake for contemporary subjectivity.What Can We Know About Sex? will be a key text for analysts, academics and students of feminism, gender and sexuality.

A great effort has been made in contemporary Western culture to move beyond jealousy in our private lives - we have renegotiated old prohibitions, reorganising our sex lives, relationships, and family structures in new and inventive ways. But have we really been so successful at bearing the knowledge that, at a certain point, others’ desires belong only to them? This collection takes the temperature of jealousy today – how does it show up in the clinic? Does this differ from how it used to? What can be said of how jealousy functions both psychically and socially? Clinicians and writers working from within a Lacanian psychoanalytic framework explore the concept and unpack not only its numerous guises and forms, but its founding effects on the levels of both the individual and the social. The question as to where jealousy is located today leads to a deeper look at the feeling’s origins: its close relation to identification and with envy, its interaction with early infantile complexes, its constant interplay with the social realm and its systems of governance, and its complex expression of ambivalence towards the maternal.This book is for anyone interested in psychoanalysis, be they readers or historians of psychoanalysis, or clinicians looking for ways to approach jealousy in their practice. It is also for anyone who knows what it is to suffer jealousy, which if Freud was right, is most of us.

A great effort has been made in contemporary Western culture to move beyond jealousy in our private lives - we have renegotiated old prohibitions, reorganising our sex lives, relationships, and family structures in new and inventive ways. But have we really been so successful at bearing the knowledge that, at a certain point, others’ desires belong only to them? This collection takes the temperature of jealousy today – how does it show up in the clinic? Does this differ from how it used to? What can be said of how jealousy functions both psychically and socially? Clinicians and writers working from within a Lacanian psychoanalytic framework explore the concept and unpack not only its numerous guises and forms, but its founding effects on the levels of both the individual and the social. The question as to where jealousy is located today leads to a deeper look at the feeling’s origins: its close relation to identification and with envy, its interaction with early infantile complexes, its constant interplay with the social realm and its systems of governance, and its complex expression of ambivalence towards the maternal.This book is for anyone interested in psychoanalysis, be they readers or historians of psychoanalysis, or clinicians looking for ways to approach jealousy in their practice. It is also for anyone who knows what it is to suffer jealousy, which if Freud was right, is most of us.

How Does Analysis Work? uses short, compelling vignettes from people in Lacanian analysis to explore how analytic interpretation works.Insights, revelations, connections, meanings and non-meanings all feature in these anonymous accounts of crucial moments in analysis, providing a sense of what it is all about. Drawn from a wide range of analysands, some seasoned analysts and others just starting out, these vignettes show how change takes place. The short pieces are drawn from Lacanian analysis, but many go against cliched views of what Lacanians do in their work, spanning both the classical and the radically innovative and showing the use of humour and theatre in psychoanalytic practice.How Does Analysis Work? will be of great interest to psychoanalysts and Lacanian analysts in practice and in training, as well as anyone who is curious about the analytic process.

How Does Analysis Work? uses short, compelling vignettes from people in Lacanian analysis to explore how analytic interpretation works.Insights, revelations, connections, meanings and non-meanings all feature in these anonymous accounts of crucial moments in analysis, providing a sense of what it is all about. Drawn from a wide range of analysands, some seasoned analysts and others just starting out, these vignettes show how change takes place. The short pieces are drawn from Lacanian analysis, but many go against cliched views of what Lacanians do in their work, spanning both the classical and the radically innovative and showing the use of humour and theatre in psychoanalytic practice.How Does Analysis Work? will be of great interest to psychoanalysts and Lacanian analysts in practice and in training, as well as anyone who is curious about the analytic process.

What Does It Mean to 'Make' Love? shows how the choice of gender does not conform to anatomy and is based on an often unrecognised psychic bisexuality.Everyone chooses a gender by repressing another gender, which becomes the site of both an attraction and a conflict, a 'war of the sexes', the contingencies of which animate desire. Gérard Pommier explores phantasy, desire and perversion and their role in 'sexual machinery', before considering the question of orgasm. Pommier’s work demonstrates that the analysis of orgasm brings out a political dimension and that aspects of both social and personal life are illuminated by the study of how we think – consciously and unconsciously – about orgasm and the role we ascribe to it.This book makes valuable contributions to the study of sexuality and will be of interest to all psychoanalysts and students of psychoanalysis, as well as those in the fields of gender studies, anthropology and psychology.

What Does It Mean to 'Make' Love? shows how the choice of gender does not conform to anatomy and is based on an often unrecognised psychic bisexuality.Everyone chooses a gender by repressing another gender, which becomes the site of both an attraction and a conflict, a 'war of the sexes', the contingencies of which animate desire. Gérard Pommier explores phantasy, desire and perversion and their role in 'sexual machinery', before considering the question of orgasm. Pommier’s work demonstrates that the analysis of orgasm brings out a political dimension and that aspects of both social and personal life are illuminated by the study of how we think – consciously and unconsciously – about orgasm and the role we ascribe to it.This book makes valuable contributions to the study of sexuality and will be of interest to all psychoanalysts and students of psychoanalysis, as well as those in the fields of gender studies, anthropology and psychology.

This book discusses Jacques Lacan’s contribution to understanding the life and work of James Joyce, introducing Colette Soler’s influential reading to English readers for the first time. Focusing on Lacan’s famous Seminar on Joyce, the reader will no doubt learn much from Lacan, but also, as Soler shows, what Lacan learned from Joyce and what perhaps, without him, he would not have approached with so much confidence. Le Sinthome. This is the title Jacques Lacan chose for his seminar devoted to Joyce in 1975–76. He wrote the word 'sinthome' in its original spelling, from the Greek, and thus used the technique so dear to Joyce: the equivocation between the sound that is heard and the graphic representation that is seen. Is it surprising that the author who recognised in 1956 with 'The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious' that the Freudian practice of speech revealed an unconscious that writes – something Jacques Derrida found quite remarkable – would end in 1975–76 with Joyce? Lacan Reading Joyce will be of great interest to professional and academic readers in the respective fields of Lacan and Joyce studies, including psychoanalysts in practice and training, as well as researchers and students in psychoanalytic and modern literary studies.

This book discusses Jacques Lacan’s contribution to understanding the life and work of James Joyce, introducing Colette Soler’s influential reading to English readers for the first time. Focusing on Lacan’s famous Seminar on Joyce, the reader will no doubt learn much from Lacan, but also, as Soler shows, what Lacan learned from Joyce and what perhaps, without him, he would not have approached with so much confidence. Le Sinthome. This is the title Jacques Lacan chose for his seminar devoted to Joyce in 1975–76. He wrote the word 'sinthome' in its original spelling, from the Greek, and thus used the technique so dear to Joyce: the equivocation between the sound that is heard and the graphic representation that is seen. Is it surprising that the author who recognised in 1956 with 'The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious' that the Freudian practice of speech revealed an unconscious that writes – something Jacques Derrida found quite remarkable – would end in 1975–76 with Joyce? Lacan Reading Joyce will be of great interest to professional and academic readers in the respective fields of Lacan and Joyce studies, including psychoanalysts in practice and training, as well as researchers and students in psychoanalytic and modern literary studies.