Ann Jefferson
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691160658
- eISBN:
- 9781400852598
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691160658.003.0019
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter turns to Julia Kristeva's discussion of female genius. It presents Kristeva's three biographical studies of Hannah Arendt (1999), Melanie Klein (2000), and Colette (2002), published ...
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This chapter turns to Julia Kristeva's discussion of female genius. It presents Kristeva's three biographical studies of Hannah Arendt (1999), Melanie Klein (2000), and Colette (2002), published under the collective title Le Génie feminine. Her perspective is predominantly psychoanalytic as she approaches her subject with a certain boldness as she treats female genius as a given rather than defensively pleading the cause. Hence, collectively, the trilogy offers a psychoanalytically grounded account of gender and femininity as part of its reflection on genius. Genius takes a new, explicitly gendered form here and it does so thanks to the mix of literary criticism, feminist theory, and psychoanalysis that is characteristic of the later years of “French theory.”Less
This chapter turns to Julia Kristeva's discussion of female genius. It presents Kristeva's three biographical studies of Hannah Arendt (1999), Melanie Klein (2000), and Colette (2002), published under the collective title Le Génie feminine. Her perspective is predominantly psychoanalytic as she approaches her subject with a certain boldness as she treats female genius as a given rather than defensively pleading the cause. Hence, collectively, the trilogy offers a psychoanalytically grounded account of gender and femininity as part of its reflection on genius. Genius takes a new, explicitly gendered form here and it does so thanks to the mix of literary criticism, feminist theory, and psychoanalysis that is characteristic of the later years of “French theory.”
Orna Ophir
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231170222
- eISBN:
- 9780231540124
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231170222.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Picking up on the work of Melanie Klein and her followers, Ophir urges us to understand both love and forgiveness as life-long processes that can break the vicious cycle of violence and ...
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Picking up on the work of Melanie Klein and her followers, Ophir urges us to understand both love and forgiveness as life-long processes that can break the vicious cycle of violence and counter-violence, provided we confront evil not so much in its manifest and external forms but above all the evil in ourselves.Less
Picking up on the work of Melanie Klein and her followers, Ophir urges us to understand both love and forgiveness as life-long processes that can break the vicious cycle of violence and counter-violence, provided we confront evil not so much in its manifest and external forms but above all the evil in ourselves.
Julia Kristeva
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263129
- eISBN:
- 9780191734861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263129.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter presents the text of a lecture on feminine genius. It highlights the achievements of Hannah Arendt, Melanie Klein, and Colette in their respective fields. It defines the concept of ...
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This chapter presents the text of a lecture on feminine genius. It highlights the achievements of Hannah Arendt, Melanie Klein, and Colette in their respective fields. It defines the concept of feminine genius and describes the similarities and differences of these three women. It also comments on the sexual, social and political liberation of women and their entry into various political and intellectual domains in the twentieth century.Less
This chapter presents the text of a lecture on feminine genius. It highlights the achievements of Hannah Arendt, Melanie Klein, and Colette in their respective fields. It defines the concept of feminine genius and describes the similarities and differences of these three women. It also comments on the sexual, social and political liberation of women and their entry into various political and intellectual domains in the twentieth century.
Jones James W
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195335972
- eISBN:
- 9780199868957
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335972.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
“The Role of the Individual: Toward a Clinical Psychology of Religious Terrorism.” Having laid out some of the primary psychological-religious themes expressed by religiously motivated terrorists and ...
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“The Role of the Individual: Toward a Clinical Psychology of Religious Terrorism.” Having laid out some of the primary psychological-religious themes expressed by religiously motivated terrorists and illustrated them in three different religious traditions, in this chapter the author offers a clinical, primarily psychodynamic, examination of them. Given a multidisciplinary framework, the role of group processes in the radicalization of terrorists is acknowledged. But not every member of a cohort or group becomes radicalized, and not every fanatical religious partisan commits terrorist acts. Individual factors can also play a role. Drawing on contemporary relational psychoanalytic theory and building on the work of Fairbairn, Klein, and Kohut, this chapter discusses some of the psychology involved in themes found in the writings and interviews of religious terrorists.Less
“The Role of the Individual: Toward a Clinical Psychology of Religious Terrorism.” Having laid out some of the primary psychological-religious themes expressed by religiously motivated terrorists and illustrated them in three different religious traditions, in this chapter the author offers a clinical, primarily psychodynamic, examination of them. Given a multidisciplinary framework, the role of group processes in the radicalization of terrorists is acknowledged. But not every member of a cohort or group becomes radicalized, and not every fanatical religious partisan commits terrorist acts. Individual factors can also play a role. Drawing on contemporary relational psychoanalytic theory and building on the work of Fairbairn, Klein, and Kohut, this chapter discusses some of the psychology involved in themes found in the writings and interviews of religious terrorists.
Albert Mason
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231170222
- eISBN:
- 9780231540124
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231170222.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Mason develops a comprehensive psychoanalytical notion of forgiveness that sees it not only as fundamental to the relationship of the analyst to the patient but of the relationships all of us ...
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Mason develops a comprehensive psychoanalytical notion of forgiveness that sees it not only as fundamental to the relationship of the analyst to the patient but of the relationships all of us entertain with others and with ourselves, a conception that culminates in the claim that forgiveness is a “vital need.”Less
Mason develops a comprehensive psychoanalytical notion of forgiveness that sees it not only as fundamental to the relationship of the analyst to the patient but of the relationships all of us entertain with others and with ourselves, a conception that culminates in the claim that forgiveness is a “vital need.”
Lana Lin
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780823277711
- eISBN:
- 9780823280568
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823277711.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
This chapter interprets Audre Lorde’s experience of cancer and racial injury through psychoanalyst Melanie Klein’s theories of sadistic aggression, mourning, and psychic reparation. Drawing on ...
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This chapter interprets Audre Lorde’s experience of cancer and racial injury through psychoanalyst Melanie Klein’s theories of sadistic aggression, mourning, and psychic reparation. Drawing on Klein’s theories of the maternal breast as the first part-object, the original lost object that initiates a cycle of destruction and reparation, the chapter considers the psychic consequences of losing the breast through the traumatic processes of weaning and invasive carcinoma. For Lorde, illness, racism, sexism, and homophobia are conjoined as objectifying forces. The chapter inquires into how psychoanalytic object relations theory contends with objectification—becoming the object of a fatal disease, racial hatred, or sexist assault. Indicating how destruction can play a part in reparation, Lorde described her own mastectomy as breaking off a piece of herself to make her whole. She rejects the breast prosthesis on the grounds that it enforces objectifying gender norms. Lorde’s critique of the “prosthetic pretense” is applied to contemporary breast cancer culture. The chapter proposes that one of the unconscious motivations behind the social pressure to reconstruct the breast stems from a fetishism of the first object.Less
This chapter interprets Audre Lorde’s experience of cancer and racial injury through psychoanalyst Melanie Klein’s theories of sadistic aggression, mourning, and psychic reparation. Drawing on Klein’s theories of the maternal breast as the first part-object, the original lost object that initiates a cycle of destruction and reparation, the chapter considers the psychic consequences of losing the breast through the traumatic processes of weaning and invasive carcinoma. For Lorde, illness, racism, sexism, and homophobia are conjoined as objectifying forces. The chapter inquires into how psychoanalytic object relations theory contends with objectification—becoming the object of a fatal disease, racial hatred, or sexist assault. Indicating how destruction can play a part in reparation, Lorde described her own mastectomy as breaking off a piece of herself to make her whole. She rejects the breast prosthesis on the grounds that it enforces objectifying gender norms. Lorde’s critique of the “prosthetic pretense” is applied to contemporary breast cancer culture. The chapter proposes that one of the unconscious motivations behind the social pressure to reconstruct the breast stems from a fetishism of the first object.
Alison Sinclair
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198151906
- eISBN:
- 9780191672880
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198151906.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This book studies the representation in European literature of adultery, focusing in particular on the figure of the husband. Drawing on psychoanalysis, and primarily the work of Melanie Klein, it ...
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This book studies the representation in European literature of adultery, focusing in particular on the figure of the husband. Drawing on psychoanalysis, and primarily the work of Melanie Klein, it argues that the differing representations of the deceived husband evidence anxieties within patriarchal society about gender and power, and ultimately about death and the unknown. Detailed discussions of a wide range of texts including The Canterbury Tales, The Decameron, Othello, Madame Bovary, Effi Briest, Anna Karenina, La Regenta, and Flaubert's Parrot reveal that fundamental anxieties about masculinity are repeatedly articulated in two main characterisations of the deceived husband: the cuckold and the man of honour. These are representations which can be usefully understood, the book shows, with reference to the two early developmental positions forwarded by Klein: the paranoid schizoid and the depressive positions.Less
This book studies the representation in European literature of adultery, focusing in particular on the figure of the husband. Drawing on psychoanalysis, and primarily the work of Melanie Klein, it argues that the differing representations of the deceived husband evidence anxieties within patriarchal society about gender and power, and ultimately about death and the unknown. Detailed discussions of a wide range of texts including The Canterbury Tales, The Decameron, Othello, Madame Bovary, Effi Briest, Anna Karenina, La Regenta, and Flaubert's Parrot reveal that fundamental anxieties about masculinity are repeatedly articulated in two main characterisations of the deceived husband: the cuckold and the man of honour. These are representations which can be usefully understood, the book shows, with reference to the two early developmental positions forwarded by Klein: the paranoid schizoid and the depressive positions.
Simon Morgan Wortham
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748692415
- eISBN:
- 9781474408660
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748692415.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter focuses on Melanie Klein in which the question of what may survive is once more critical. It is Klein whose writings for Julia Kristeva confirm Proust's assertion that ‘ideas come to us ...
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This chapter focuses on Melanie Klein in which the question of what may survive is once more critical. It is Klein whose writings for Julia Kristeva confirm Proust's assertion that ‘ideas come to us as the substitutes for griefs’. Klein charts the passage, during early infancy, from the psychotic-schizoid to the depressive position. This represents an attempt to overcome, through a process of integration, an original set of object-relations in which the other and the self are radically fragmented. The chapter explores the potential for dark humour within Klein's often somewhat bleak writings and poses the question of its possible limits. Turning to one of her very last essays, on loneliness, it argues that it is our loneliness — in a Kleinian sense — that may outlive us, even and perhaps especially in the creative works we undertake in order to confront it.Less
This chapter focuses on Melanie Klein in which the question of what may survive is once more critical. It is Klein whose writings for Julia Kristeva confirm Proust's assertion that ‘ideas come to us as the substitutes for griefs’. Klein charts the passage, during early infancy, from the psychotic-schizoid to the depressive position. This represents an attempt to overcome, through a process of integration, an original set of object-relations in which the other and the self are radically fragmented. The chapter explores the potential for dark humour within Klein's often somewhat bleak writings and poses the question of its possible limits. Turning to one of her very last essays, on loneliness, it argues that it is our loneliness — in a Kleinian sense — that may outlive us, even and perhaps especially in the creative works we undertake in order to confront it.
Bénédicte Vidaillet
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195327953
- eISBN:
- 9780199301485
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195327953.003.0015
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter examines the potential contributions of psychoanalysis to the study of envy. It first mentions some fundamental theoretical and methodological principles of psychoanalysis, before ...
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This chapter examines the potential contributions of psychoanalysis to the study of envy. It first mentions some fundamental theoretical and methodological principles of psychoanalysis, before discussing the main theories on envy proposed by three major contributors: Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein, and Jacques Lacan.Less
This chapter examines the potential contributions of psychoanalysis to the study of envy. It first mentions some fundamental theoretical and methodological principles of psychoanalysis, before discussing the main theories on envy proposed by three major contributors: Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein, and Jacques Lacan.
Vanda Zajko
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199237944
- eISBN:
- 9780191706455
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199237944.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
This chapter examines the part that identification plays in specifically feminist engagements with texts and how it has enabled mythical characters to provide such a potent resource for women. It ...
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This chapter examines the part that identification plays in specifically feminist engagements with texts and how it has enabled mythical characters to provide such a potent resource for women. It uses a Kleinian model of identification to understand the trans-historical power of myth. In particular, it looks at the phenomenon of cross-gendered identification and explores its manifestation in a variety of poetic and theoretical contexts. The chapter focuses on one mythological character, the Homeric hero Achilles, and four very different texts: Elizabeth Cook's poetic novel Achilles; a letter of the poet John Keats in which he explains to his brother and sister-in-law why he hopes he will never marry; the French feminist theorist Hélène Cixous's ‘Sorties’ section of The Newly Born Woman; and Melanie Klein's extension of Freud's concept of phantasy, particularly as it relates to the unconscious.Less
This chapter examines the part that identification plays in specifically feminist engagements with texts and how it has enabled mythical characters to provide such a potent resource for women. It uses a Kleinian model of identification to understand the trans-historical power of myth. In particular, it looks at the phenomenon of cross-gendered identification and explores its manifestation in a variety of poetic and theoretical contexts. The chapter focuses on one mythological character, the Homeric hero Achilles, and four very different texts: Elizabeth Cook's poetic novel Achilles; a letter of the poet John Keats in which he explains to his brother and sister-in-law why he hopes he will never marry; the French feminist theorist Hélène Cixous's ‘Sorties’ section of The Newly Born Woman; and Melanie Klein's extension of Freud's concept of phantasy, particularly as it relates to the unconscious.
Jeremy Tambling
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780719086731
- eISBN:
- 9781781705100
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719086731.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This book presents a working through of what Freud really said, and why it is so important, with a chapter on Melanie Klein and object relations theory, and two chapters on Lacan and his work on the ...
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This book presents a working through of what Freud really said, and why it is so important, with a chapter on Melanie Klein and object relations theory, and two chapters on Lacan and his work on the unconscious as structured like a language. Investigating different forms of literature through a careful examination of Shakespeare, Blake, the Sherlock Holmes stories, and many other examples from literature, it makes an argument for taking literature and psychoanalysis together, and essential to each other. The book places both literature and psychoanalysis into the context of all that has been said about these subjects in recent debates in the theory of Derrida, Foucault and Žižek, and into the context of gender studies and queer theory.Less
This book presents a working through of what Freud really said, and why it is so important, with a chapter on Melanie Klein and object relations theory, and two chapters on Lacan and his work on the unconscious as structured like a language. Investigating different forms of literature through a careful examination of Shakespeare, Blake, the Sherlock Holmes stories, and many other examples from literature, it makes an argument for taking literature and psychoanalysis together, and essential to each other. The book places both literature and psychoanalysis into the context of all that has been said about these subjects in recent debates in the theory of Derrida, Foucault and Žižek, and into the context of gender studies and queer theory.
Jennifer Radden
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195151657
- eISBN:
- 9780199849253
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195151657.003.0027
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter presents Melanie Klein's discussion of melancholy. Klein was one of the most influential but also controversial thinkers to extend and expand Freudian insights. Her interest lay in the ...
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This chapter presents Melanie Klein's discussion of melancholy. Klein was one of the most influential but also controversial thinkers to extend and expand Freudian insights. Her interest lay in the relationships established by an infant during the first years of life. Reinterpreting Freud's account of the conflicts among instincts, Klein developed a theory about the interplay of attitudes, particularly of love and hate, felt in relation to the infant's first “objects,” the mother and parts of the mother, such as her breasts, as both external objects and internal representations. The centrality accorded to these early feelings, particularly the intense, negative ones, is a distinguishing mark of Kleinian theory. Klein first wrote of the depressive position in 1935 and continued to alter and develop her analysis for the rest of her life. In an excerpt included here, from 1940, depressive position referred to the infant's inner turmoil and distress accompanying weaning; the first painful, frustrating, and alarming experience of separation and loss; and the recognition that a whole object is both loved and hated. Elaborating on the feelings of loss associated with early separation about which Freud had written in “Mourning and Melancholia,” Klein postulated that this period of infancy involved in every case a kind of infantile neurosis, similar to melancholia.Less
This chapter presents Melanie Klein's discussion of melancholy. Klein was one of the most influential but also controversial thinkers to extend and expand Freudian insights. Her interest lay in the relationships established by an infant during the first years of life. Reinterpreting Freud's account of the conflicts among instincts, Klein developed a theory about the interplay of attitudes, particularly of love and hate, felt in relation to the infant's first “objects,” the mother and parts of the mother, such as her breasts, as both external objects and internal representations. The centrality accorded to these early feelings, particularly the intense, negative ones, is a distinguishing mark of Kleinian theory. Klein first wrote of the depressive position in 1935 and continued to alter and develop her analysis for the rest of her life. In an excerpt included here, from 1940, depressive position referred to the infant's inner turmoil and distress accompanying weaning; the first painful, frustrating, and alarming experience of separation and loss; and the recognition that a whole object is both loved and hated. Elaborating on the feelings of loss associated with early separation about which Freud had written in “Mourning and Melancholia,” Klein postulated that this period of infancy involved in every case a kind of infantile neurosis, similar to melancholia.
Peter Robinson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199273256
- eISBN:
- 9780191706370
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199273256.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter continues the argument of the previous one by applying the discoveries made to one of Bishop's most sustained poems about her art: Crusoe in England. Melanie Klein's theories of attack ...
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This chapter continues the argument of the previous one by applying the discoveries made to one of Bishop's most sustained poems about her art: Crusoe in England. Melanie Klein's theories of attack and reparation in infant psychology, as applied to the making of art, are considered in the light of the hope that art might have a therapeutic role. The chapter concludes that in Bishop's case, this seems not to have been the case because the conditions for making art are themselves examples and exasperations of the problems in need of therapeutic care.Less
This chapter continues the argument of the previous one by applying the discoveries made to one of Bishop's most sustained poems about her art: Crusoe in England. Melanie Klein's theories of attack and reparation in infant psychology, as applied to the making of art, are considered in the light of the hope that art might have a therapeutic role. The chapter concludes that in Bishop's case, this seems not to have been the case because the conditions for making art are themselves examples and exasperations of the problems in need of therapeutic care.
Adam Frank
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823262465
- eISBN:
- 9780823266364
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823262465.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter examines Gertrude Stein’s poetics of mistake by way of Silvan Tomkins’s understanding of the role of affects in perception and Melanie Klein’s notion of unconscious phantasy. It seeks to ...
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This chapter examines Gertrude Stein’s poetics of mistake by way of Silvan Tomkins’s understanding of the role of affects in perception and Melanie Klein’s notion of unconscious phantasy. It seeks to define the compositional aspect of affect, that is, the ways that affect and emotion help to compose psychic objects. The chapter describes Stein’s and Tomkins’s shared intellectual and historical affiliation with William James, and their interest in the role of confusion in perception. It reads parts of Tender Buttons to show how Stein and Klein participated in similar modernist projects, and concludes by arguing that confusion is both an expression of what Klein called envy and a defense against it.Less
This chapter examines Gertrude Stein’s poetics of mistake by way of Silvan Tomkins’s understanding of the role of affects in perception and Melanie Klein’s notion of unconscious phantasy. It seeks to define the compositional aspect of affect, that is, the ways that affect and emotion help to compose psychic objects. The chapter describes Stein’s and Tomkins’s shared intellectual and historical affiliation with William James, and their interest in the role of confusion in perception. It reads parts of Tender Buttons to show how Stein and Klein participated in similar modernist projects, and concludes by arguing that confusion is both an expression of what Klein called envy and a defense against it.
Nathan Widder
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748638642
- eISBN:
- 9780748652679
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748638642.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter explores what should have been a formidable problem for studies of Gilles Deleuze from the start and addresses his reaffirmation of Hegelian theme that being is sense. It explains that ...
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This chapter explores what should have been a formidable problem for studies of Gilles Deleuze from the start and addresses his reaffirmation of Hegelian theme that being is sense. It explains that in his The Logic of Sense, Deleuze clarified that sense itself is produced, which means that being has its origins outside of itself. The chapter traces the process by which Deleuze charted the relation between materiality and sense and between corporeality and incorporeality in his account of the dynamic genesis, and also analyses the influence of Melanie Klein's theory of childhood development on Deleuze's thought.Less
This chapter explores what should have been a formidable problem for studies of Gilles Deleuze from the start and addresses his reaffirmation of Hegelian theme that being is sense. It explains that in his The Logic of Sense, Deleuze clarified that sense itself is produced, which means that being has its origins outside of itself. The chapter traces the process by which Deleuze charted the relation between materiality and sense and between corporeality and incorporeality in his account of the dynamic genesis, and also analyses the influence of Melanie Klein's theory of childhood development on Deleuze's thought.
David W. McIvor
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781501704956
- eISBN:
- 9781501706189
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501704956.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter unpacks the intimate connection between mourning and activist politics of (violent and nonviolent) direct action, in part by examining recent appropriations of Antigone within agonist ...
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This chapter unpacks the intimate connection between mourning and activist politics of (violent and nonviolent) direct action, in part by examining recent appropriations of Antigone within agonist political theory. Insofar as mourning is approached under the image of resistant, Antigone-like voices, it fits snugly within an agonistic framework for political life. Although agonism is a diverse gathering of different voices, on the whole agonists advance a view of politics as a matter of endless contestation without the prospect of final settlement or consensus. Agonists do not necessarily romanticize conflict nor neglect the possibility of extreme violence, but their goal is not to resolve political antagonisms so much to shift them toward a less violent, if still contentious, agonism. However, it is also argued that the agonist appropriation of Antigone risks losing touch with the complexity of her mourning claims and the complexity of mourning itself. The chapter tries to restore some of this complexity by reading Antigone from the perspective of Melanie Klein's theory of mourning and what has been defined as the democratic work of mourning in Chapter 1.Less
This chapter unpacks the intimate connection between mourning and activist politics of (violent and nonviolent) direct action, in part by examining recent appropriations of Antigone within agonist political theory. Insofar as mourning is approached under the image of resistant, Antigone-like voices, it fits snugly within an agonistic framework for political life. Although agonism is a diverse gathering of different voices, on the whole agonists advance a view of politics as a matter of endless contestation without the prospect of final settlement or consensus. Agonists do not necessarily romanticize conflict nor neglect the possibility of extreme violence, but their goal is not to resolve political antagonisms so much to shift them toward a less violent, if still contentious, agonism. However, it is also argued that the agonist appropriation of Antigone risks losing touch with the complexity of her mourning claims and the complexity of mourning itself. The chapter tries to restore some of this complexity by reading Antigone from the perspective of Melanie Klein's theory of mourning and what has been defined as the democratic work of mourning in Chapter 1.
Jeremy Tambling
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780719086731
- eISBN:
- 9781781705100
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719086731.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter discusses one of Freud's most exciting followers, Melanie Klein, and object-relations theory, focusing on the role of the mother in psychoanalysis. It also shows Freud's discussion of ...
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This chapter discusses one of Freud's most exciting followers, Melanie Klein, and object-relations theory, focusing on the role of the mother in psychoanalysis. It also shows Freud's discussion of the Fort! Da! game in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, and presents an account of what Klein's work means and its significance for producing thought about creativity, writing, and art. The chapter argues Klein's view that the child's desires are conflictual and ambivalent, and that the physical mother cannot symbolise them, either in her literality or because thinking depends on ambivalence. Meanwhile, Julia Kristeva contends that, in childbirth, women identify with their mothers, and, in that sense, privileges the role of the woman as mother over other forms of feminism which have been used to attempt to challenge that codification.Less
This chapter discusses one of Freud's most exciting followers, Melanie Klein, and object-relations theory, focusing on the role of the mother in psychoanalysis. It also shows Freud's discussion of the Fort! Da! game in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, and presents an account of what Klein's work means and its significance for producing thought about creativity, writing, and art. The chapter argues Klein's view that the child's desires are conflictual and ambivalent, and that the physical mother cannot symbolise them, either in her literality or because thinking depends on ambivalence. Meanwhile, Julia Kristeva contends that, in childbirth, women identify with their mothers, and, in that sense, privileges the role of the woman as mother over other forms of feminism which have been used to attempt to challenge that codification.
Julia Gallagher
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719085000
- eISBN:
- 9781781702253
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719085000.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter develops a theoretical underpinning of the reconnection of the state to a source of good. It first looks at communitarian ideas that locate good within the community and its ...
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This chapter develops a theoretical underpinning of the reconnection of the state to a source of good. It first looks at communitarian ideas that locate good within the community and its relationships. These ideas need to grapple with the problem of locating both the good and the political within the same human realm. Emile Durkheim explains the need for a source of pure good—and locates it in the sacred beliefs and practices shared by members of the community. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, in his exploration of a new form of ideal republic, discusses the idea of the ‘good state’. This chapter also discusses the issues raised by the communitarians in relation to the work of psychoanalyst Melanie Klein. It describes Klein's work as it relates to the role of relationships and the good in the development of subjectivity. It borrows an international relations tradition of seeing the state as an individual which relates to other individual states.Less
This chapter develops a theoretical underpinning of the reconnection of the state to a source of good. It first looks at communitarian ideas that locate good within the community and its relationships. These ideas need to grapple with the problem of locating both the good and the political within the same human realm. Emile Durkheim explains the need for a source of pure good—and locates it in the sacred beliefs and practices shared by members of the community. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, in his exploration of a new form of ideal republic, discusses the idea of the ‘good state’. This chapter also discusses the issues raised by the communitarians in relation to the work of psychoanalyst Melanie Klein. It describes Klein's work as it relates to the role of relationships and the good in the development of subjectivity. It borrows an international relations tradition of seeing the state as an individual which relates to other individual states.
David W. McIvor
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781501704956
- eISBN:
- 9781501706189
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501704956.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter argues that a Periclean politics of mourning—like the Antigonean politics described in Chapter 2—is shadowed by political-psychological dangers that must be understood if collectivities ...
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This chapter argues that a Periclean politics of mourning—like the Antigonean politics described in Chapter 2—is shadowed by political-psychological dangers that must be understood if collectivities are to move toward more democratic forms of mourning. These dangers include an uncritical, patriotic attachment to the state and a befogged romanticism about its history and traditions. These political pathologies stem in part from psychological tendencies described by Melanie Klein. The chapter begins with a description of the Periclean mode of mourning and shows how it triggers paranoid-schizoid defenses that have significant consequences for public life. It then turns to the work of Rawls, detailing aspects of the critical race and agonist critiques against Rawls insofar as each echoes Socrates' critique of Pericles.Less
This chapter argues that a Periclean politics of mourning—like the Antigonean politics described in Chapter 2—is shadowed by political-psychological dangers that must be understood if collectivities are to move toward more democratic forms of mourning. These dangers include an uncritical, patriotic attachment to the state and a befogged romanticism about its history and traditions. These political pathologies stem in part from psychological tendencies described by Melanie Klein. The chapter begins with a description of the Periclean mode of mourning and shows how it triggers paranoid-schizoid defenses that have significant consequences for public life. It then turns to the work of Rawls, detailing aspects of the critical race and agonist critiques against Rawls insofar as each echoes Socrates' critique of Pericles.
Elaine P. Miller
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231166829
- eISBN:
- 9780231537117
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231166829.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
This chapter considers the notion of pardon, which permeates Julia Kristeva's latest publications, Hatred and Forgiveness and This Incredible Need to Believe. Although usually translated as ...
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This chapter considers the notion of pardon, which permeates Julia Kristeva's latest publications, Hatred and Forgiveness and This Incredible Need to Believe. Although usually translated as “forgiveness,” Kristeva makes explicit its etymology in French, pardoner, by hyphenating the verb: “par-don.” As such, pardoning means “completely giving” or “a thorough giving.” Following St. Augustine and Hannah Arendt's opinion of the topic, Kristeva considers “pardon” to be a second birth that gives rise to a new temporality and a new self. In particular her concept of forgiveness called “aesthetic pardon,” emerges from her dual commitment to Sigmund Freud and to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel but is given its specific character through her reading of Melanie Klein.Less
This chapter considers the notion of pardon, which permeates Julia Kristeva's latest publications, Hatred and Forgiveness and This Incredible Need to Believe. Although usually translated as “forgiveness,” Kristeva makes explicit its etymology in French, pardoner, by hyphenating the verb: “par-don.” As such, pardoning means “completely giving” or “a thorough giving.” Following St. Augustine and Hannah Arendt's opinion of the topic, Kristeva considers “pardon” to be a second birth that gives rise to a new temporality and a new self. In particular her concept of forgiveness called “aesthetic pardon,” emerges from her dual commitment to Sigmund Freud and to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel but is given its specific character through her reading of Melanie Klein.
