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Ferenczi Dialogues

On Trauma and Catastrophe

Raluca Soreanu author Jakob Staberg author Jenny Willner author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Leuven University Press

Published:14th Feb '23

Should be back in stock very soon

Ferenczi Dialogues cover

Ferenczi Dialogues presents the contribution of Sandor Ferenczi to a psychoanalytic theory of trauma and discusses the philosophical, political and clinical implications of Ferenczi's thinking. To a far greater extent than Freud, Sandor Ferenczi centered his psychoanalytic thought around trauma. Ferenczi's work pluralizes the notion of catastrophe, as being both destructive and a turning point. This book addresses Ferenczi's work in terms of thinking in times of crises, by considering contemporary situations in constellation with various scenes from the past: the outbreak of the First World War, the crisis of psychoanalysis as an institution, the disastrous final encounter between Ferenczi and Freud, the rise of Fascism and National Socialism, and the impending exile of the founding members of the psychoanalytic movement. Against this backdrop, the authors show how Ferenczi's late work outlines a new metapsychology of fragments. Ferenczi Dialogues situates the legacy of Ferenczi within the broad interdisciplinary landscape of the social sciences, literary theory, psychoanalytic theory, and clinical practice, and highlights Ferenczi's relevance for contemporary philosophical discussions in poststructuralism, feminism and new materialism.

The interdisciplinarity and the format of dialogue among this threesome has produced a powerful work – in regard to psychoanalytic theory, its history and to the history and importance of Sándor Ferenczi.
Adrienne Harris, New York University (NYU)


Ferenczi Dialogues marks a new phase in the recovery and rearticulation of Ferenczi’s work. The book does for Ferenczi what was done for and by Freud right from the start, which is to recognize the implied upheaval which psychoanalytic work potentially introduces into all the surrounding disciplines – because it brings with it a new way of thinking, not just within its own ‘local domain’ but for all attempts to render human experience. - Matt ffytche, American Journal of Psychoanalysis (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-024-09460-y

ISBN: 9789462703520

Dimensions: 234mm x 156mm x 14mm

Weight: 380g

256 pages