ABSTRACT

In this landmark collection of original essays, outstanding feminist critics in Britain, France, and the United States present new perspectives on feminism and psychoanalysis, opening out deadlocked debates. The discussion ranges widely, with contributions from feminists identified with different, often opposed views on psychoanalytic criticism. The contributors reassess the history of Lacanian psychoanalysis and feminism, and explore the significance of its institutional context. They write against the received views on 'French feminism' and essentialism. A remarkable restatement of current positions within psychoanalysis and feminism, the volume as a whole will change the terms of existing debates, and make its arguments and concerns more generally accessible.

chapter |23 pages

Introduction

part One|35 pages

The story so far

chapter Chapter One|13 pages

Moving backwards or forwards

chapter Chapter Two|20 pages

Still crazy after all these years

part Two|25 pages

The story framed by an institutional context

chapter Chapter Three|10 pages

The politics of impenetrability

chapter Chapter Four|13 pages

Notes for an analysis

part Three|52 pages

Towards another symbolic (1): the essential thing

chapter Chapter Five|17 pages

The politics of ontological difference

chapter Chapter Six|21 pages

Rereading Irigaray

chapter Chapter Seven|12 pages

The gesture in psychoanalysis

part Four|47 pages

Towards another symbolic (2): beyond the phallus

part Five|37 pages

Sexual difference (1): reason and revolution

part Six|41 pages

Sexual difference (2): the psychical in the social

chapter Chapter Thirteen|20 pages

Cutting up

chapter Chapter Fourteen|19 pages

Of female bondage