Weary Sons of Freud

In this passionately written and controversial book, first published in 1978, Catherine Clement, Communist, feminist and analysand, asks what the social function of psychoanalysis should be and condemns what it has become. She attacks psychoanalysis as an institution disdainful of treatment and cure, serving the interests of a new intelligentsia, the "nouveaux riches" of a narcissistic literary culture and publishing industry. Contrasting the insights of psychoanalytic theory to the obsessive imitations of Jacques Lacan by those who followed him as a practitioner-trainer, she offers an anthropological perspective and a political critique of Parisian psychoanalysis as a profession. How has the attentive ear of the analyst become deaf to questions about the social and political meaning of his or her work? Does a woman who is both a socialist and analysand necessarily hear such questions more clearly and answer them differently? Clement reflects on her own history, the history of psychoanalysis and the history of the French left to demonstrate what an activist and feminist restoration of psychoanalysis could be.

About the author

Catherine Clément is a prominent French philosopher, novelist, feminist, and literary critic. After studying at the École normale supérieure under Claude Lévi-Strauss and Jacques Lacan, she became a leading member of the school of French feminism and écriture féminine. She is a widely read novelist and has collaborated with thinkers such as Hélène Cixous and Julia Kristeva.

Summary

A Communist, feminist, and analysand asks what the social function of psychoanalysis should be and condemns what it has become

Product details

• Authors: Catherine Claement, Catherine Clement, Catherine Clément
• Assisted by: Nicole Ball (Translation), Ball Nicole (Translation)
• Publisher: Verso
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.06.2015
• EAN: 9781781688854
• ISBN: 978-1-78168-885-4
• No. of pages: 128
• Series: Radical Thinkers; Radical Thinkers; Radical Thinkers Set 10
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Psychology > Psychoanalysis; Non-fiction book > Psychology, esoterics, spirituality, anthroposophy > Applied psychology; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Feminism & Feminist Theory, Political activism, Feminism & feminist theory, Psychoanalytical and Freudian psychology, Feminism and feminist theory, Psychoanalytical theory (Freudian psychology), Political activism / Political engagement, PSYCHOLOGY / Psychotherapy / Psychoanalysis