Psychoanalysing Ambivalence with Freud and Lacan PDF
Preview Psychoanalysing Ambivalence with Freud and Lacan
“Covering everything from Aristotle to zombies to Breaking Bad, Carol Owens and Stephanie Swales have written a masterpiece unlocking the secrets of ambivalence. In Psychoanalysing Ambivalence with Freud and Lacan, they demonstrate that ambivalence is perhaps the central category in social rela- tions. The need for this book is especially urgent today, in an era characterised by its various ways of refusing ambivalence, which are, Owens and Swales make clear, ways of refusing the price of interacting with others altogether. Psychoanalysing Ambivalence with Freud and Lacan speaks to the contempor- ary political catastrophe better than any book I’ve read.” –Todd McGowan, Professor, University of Vermont, USA Psychoanalysing Ambivalence with Freud and Lacan Taking a deep dive into contemporary Western culture, this book suggests we are all fundamentally ambivalent beings. A great deal has been written about how to love – to be kinder, more empathic, a better person, and so on. But trying to love without dealing with our ambivalence, with our hatred, is often arecipe forfailure. Anyattempt,therefore,toloveourneighbourasourselves – or even, for that matter, to love ourselves – must recognise that we love where we hate and we hate where we love. Psychoanalysis, beginning with Freud, has claimed that to be in two minds about something or someone is characteristic of human subjectivity. Owens and SwalestracetheconceptofambivalencethroughitsvariousiterationsinFreudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis in order to question how the contemporary subject deals with its ambivalence. They argue that experiences of ambivalence are, in present-dayculturallife,increasinglyexcisedorforeclosed,andthatthisforeclos- ure has symptomatic effects at the individual as well as social level. Owens and Swalesexamineambivalenceasitisatworkinmourning,inmattersofsexuality, and in our enjoyment under neoliberalism and capitalism. Above all, the authors considerhow today’s ambivalentsubject relates tothe racially, religiously, cultur- ally, or sexually different neighbour as a result of the current societal dictate of complete tolerance of the other. In this vein, Owens and Swales argue that ambivalenceaboutone’sownjouissanceisattheveryrootsofxenophobia. Peppered with relevant and stimulating examples from clinical work, film, television, politics, and everyday life, Psychoanalysing Ambivalence breathes new life into an old concept and will appeal to any reader, academic, or clin- ician with an interest in psychoanalytic ideas. Carol Owens, Ph.D., is a psychoanalyst and psychoanalytic scholar in Dublin, Ireland. She edited The Letter: Perspectives in Lacanian Psychoanalysis (2003–2008), Lacanian Psychoanalysis with Babies, Children and Adolescents: Further Notes on the Child (with Stephanie Farrelly Quinn, Routledge, 2017) and Studying Lacan’s Seminars IVand V: From Lack to Desire (with Nadezhda Almqvist, Routledge, 2019). She is the series editor for the newly established Routledge series, Studying Lacan’s Seminars. Stephanie Swales, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Uni- versity of Dallas, USA, a practicing psychoanalyst, a licensed clinical psych- ologist, and a clinical supervisor located in Dallas, Texas. Her first book, Perversion: A Lacanian Psychoanalytic Approach to the Subject, was pub- lished by Routledge in 2012. Psychoanalysing Ambivalence with Freud and Lacan ff On and O the Couch Stephanie Swales and Carol Owens First published 2020 by Routledge 2Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©2020StephanieSwalesandCarolOwens The right of Stephanie Swalesand Carol Owens to beidentified asauthor of this work has beenasserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designsand Patents Act 1988. All rightsreserved. No part of thisbookmay be reprinted or reproduced or utilised inany form orbyany electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known orhereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in anyinformation storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from thepublishers. Trademark notice: Product orcorporate namesmay be trademarksor registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanationwithout intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for thisbook ISBN: 978-1-138-32844-0(hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-32845-7(pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-44865-2(ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Swales & Willis, Exeter, Devon, UK Carol dedicates this book to Carles, for 25 years of love, hate, and bitter-sweet ambivalence: que em caldria agrair-te tant temps que fa que t’estimo … Stephanie dedicates this book to Michael, for all the things you are, je t’aime. Contents Acknowledgements x Abouttheauthors xiii Foreword xiv 1 Thetensionsofambivalence 1 2 Whythezombiesatemyneighbours 21 3 Raisingthedead:Mourningandambivalence 39 4 Onlettingtherightonein:Heisenbergandvampires 52 5 Guiltysecrets(WalterWhite,WalterMitty,andthe Manosphere) 64 6 Guilt,shame,andjouissance(andbytheway,whyyour superegoisnotreallyyouramigo…) 83 7 Extimacy,ambivalence,xenophobia 102 8 Thejouissanceofambivalence:Wearenotracists,but… 122 Afterword 141 Index 144
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