The Freudian Subject

by Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen

A Stanford University Press classic.

Genres: Psychoanalysis, Nonfiction, Psychology

296 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1988

About the author

Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen (born 1951), is Professor of Comparative Literature and French at the University of Washington in Seattle. Born to Danish parents, he began his studies in France, where he studied philosophy with Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe and Jean-Luc Nancy, two philosophers close in thought to, and in dialogue with, Jacques Derrida and Jacques Lacan.
In 1981 at the University of Strasbourg he submitted his doctoral dissertation on The Freudian Subject and then began teaching in the department of Psychoanalysis at Vincennes University in Paris, where Jacques Lacan had first made his mark.
He is the author of many works on the history and philosophy of psychiatry, psychoanalysis and hypnosis. His constructivist analysis of the co-production of psychical "facts" emphasises the accuracy of historical accounts of mental disorders. He is known for his positions in virulent debates about psychoanalysis – called the Freud Wars – especially with regard to his 2005 publication of Le Livre noir de la psychanalyse ("The Black Book of Psychoanalysis"). In a review entitled Folies à plusieurs. De l'hystérie à la dépression ("Many madnesses. From hysteria to depression"), Pierre-Henri Castel calls Borch-Jacobsen "one of the most polemic thinkers with regard to the Freud Wars".

Reviews

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is MBJ trying to expose the incoherence in Freud’s prehistory of the formation of the subject. Sometimes (esp towards the end), it’s tedious, repetitive, and bordering on Derridean parody. But some other times, it is illuminating (the discussion on narcissism: is narcissism libidinal, how can narcissism be “directly” observed, before the objective cathexis..?). The light some of the discussion throws on the clash with Jung is very interesting for me (ie it’s not so clear the Freudian libido is sexual all the way down, precisely because of the problem with narcissism). Still, was a bit put off by the writing (read it in French).