The Legend of Freud: Expanded Edition

Samuel Weber

ISBN 10: 0804731217 / ISBN 13: 9780804731218

Published by Stanford University Press, 2000

About this Item

This text argues that psychoanalysis is not just a theory of psychic conflict: it is a thought in conflict with itself. This is a study of Freud's defences of psychoanalysis and the conflicts into which psychoanalytic theory has been drawn. Series: Cultural Memory in the Present. Num Pages: 280 pages, illustrations. BIC Classification: JMAF. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational; (UP) Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly; (UU) Undergraduate. Dimension: 5487 x 3556 x 16. Weight in Grams: 335. . 2000. 1st Edition. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780804731218

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Legend of Freud: Expanded Edition
• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0804731217
• ISBN 13: 9780804731218
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

"Psychoanalysis is dead!" Again and again this obituary is pronounced, with ever-increasing conviction in newspapers and scholarly journals alike. But the ghost of Freud and his thought continues to haunt those who would seal the grave. The Legend of Freud shows why psychoanalysis has remained uncanny, not just for its enemies but for its advocates and practitioners as well―and why it continues to fascinate us. For psychoanalysis is not just a theory of psychic conflict: it is a thought in conflict with itself. Often violent, the conflicts of psychoanalysis are most productive where they remain unresolved, thus producing a text that must be read: deciphered, interpreted, rewritten. Psychoanalysis: legenda est.

Review

"The Legend of Freud is a fine example of what can be done with Freud's texts when philosophical and literary approaches converge, and you leave the couch in the other room. . . . Like Lacan and Derrida, Weber doesn't so much explain or interpret Freud as engage him, performing what Freud would have called an Auseinandersetzung, a discussion or argument that's also a taking apart, a deconstruction. . . . Deconstruction has picked up a bad name, especially in the minds of those who don't understand it; but this wouldn't be the case if there were more books like Weber's. The Legend of Freud is the best deconstructive work I've seen lately, and the best response to Freud; it merits close attention from anyone who wants a challenge, not merely a guide to what's right and wrong. . . . Weber is brilliantly imaginative, respectful of his subject and his readers, and productive of new ideas."

―Village Voice Literary Supplement

About the Author

Samuel Weber is Professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Director of the UCLA Paris Program in Critical Theory. Among his many books is Mass Mediauras: Form, Technics, Media (Stanford, 1996).