In Freud's Tracks

In Freud’s Tracks marks an authentic international and intercultural achievement. The analysts and philosophers interviewed–all of the highest intellectual stature–offer detailed historical testimony and colorful personal reflections on the evolution of psychoanalysis in different countries and contexts, in line with the editorial mission of the Journal of European Psychoanalysis. It is a timely, refreshing and indeed stirring text, at times deliberately provocative, both in its challenge to institutionalized forms of psychoanalysis and in its revisitation of crucial moments in the recent history of the discipline. A pleasure to read, In Freud’s Tracks also captures the imagination as it brings to life the intensely personal experience of some of the foremost contributors to modern-day psychoanalysis–a subjective twist that only amplifies the intellectual significance of the editors’ tour de force. -- Stefano Bolognini, M.D., author of Psychoanalytic Empathy and Like Wind, Like Wave
In recent years, Freud's tracks have led psychoanalysis into new spaces, where the genre of dialogue between analysts has come to unfold as a key source for deeper understanding of theories and techniques. This important volume offers a first-hand sense of just how psychoanalytic knowledge gets generated between analysts in conversation, where we let our life and work be known with the Other, in something akin to what Martin Buber called the encounter between I and Thou. In Freud's Tracks makes for indispensable reading for anyone interested in psychoanalytic teaching, training, and personal-professional development. -- Gershon J. Molad, University of Haifa Program of Advanced Studies in Psychotherapy
This collection of interviews, previously published in the Journal of European Psychoanalysis, is both fascinating and unique in its array of contributions from philosophers, psychoanalysts, historians, intellectuals, and literary critics. The context of psychoanalytic thought is—in view of the conversations collected in this volume—clearly interdisciplinary, taking into account the philosophical, the cultural, the social and political, as well as the scientific. These conversations are distinctive in their approach and can certainly catch one's attention by their unique quality and the variety of issues covered. * Metapsychology Online, 21 July 2009 *
This is a wonderful collection of interviews with some of Europe's most prominent psychoanalysts: Jean Laplanche, Julia Kristeva, Christopher Bollas, Elizabeth Roudinesco, and Cornelius Castoriadis, to name just a few. For the reader this beautifully edited and polished collection provides a rare opportunity to participate in these informal and illuminating conversations about key conceptual issues and to learn something about the relationship between the person and the idea. One cannot finish this book without a deepened appreciation of the potential that psychoanalysis has as a vitally alive intellectual discipline and a powerful cultural and political force. -- Jeremy D. Safran, New School for Social Research