Author Archives: PsyArt

By: Nick Popow Abstract: Althusser and Lacan: Theory of the SubjectFrom Descartes’ Cogito to Husserl’s transcendental consciousness, the Subject has undergone countless formulations over the course of philosophical history. In “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses,” Louis Althusser proposed a complete rethinking of the Subject. For Althusser, to be a Subject is to have one’s thoughts,Continue reading “Wounds and Repetition: The Death Drive in the Subject’s Sensorium”

By: Christopher Power Abstract: This paper highlights certain affinities between the work of Jacques Lacan and Michel Foucault. It takes as a starting point the notion of madness articulated in Jacques Lacan’s “Fonction et champ de la parole et du langage en psychanalyse”, the speech he gave in Rome in 1966 that marked his breakContinue reading “Madness in Lacan and Foucault”

By: Jerry Aline Flieger Abstract: In a talk delivered in 2016, (“Why do We Laugh at UFO’s?”), I referenced Freud’s theory about the social function of jokes to speculate on why the mention of UFO’s is almost always met with laughter (34th International Psyart Conference, Reims, France; published as “Objets trouvés: L’autre qui hante laContinue reading “Uncanny Foreign Objects (Unheimliche Fremde Objekte): Lacan’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind”

By: Efrat Biberman Abstract: In 2005, Jean Clair curated a grand exhibition dedicated to melancholy. Theexhibition encompassed an array of the copious representations of melancholythrough a historical prism, and included various spectacular images of skulls, dolefuleyes, ticking clocks and ample images of the posture most identified withmelancholy— figures leaning their heads on their hands. MelancholyContinue reading “Melancholy as an Artistic Position: The Case of Bas Jan Ader”

By: Gerald C. Wood Abstract: Near the end of Persuasion Anne Elliot informs Captain Wentworth that despite Lady Russell’s opposition to the couple, Anne will continue to be connected to, even influenced by, her mother figure. This scene is indicative of Austen’s dramatic shift from the Cinderella stories in her earlier novels to a psychologicalContinue reading ““That quarter of the mind”: The Psychodynamics of the Female Will In Jane Austen’s Persuasion”

By: Genevieve Smart Abstract: In its analysis of Mina Loy’s 1914 poem “Parturition” alongside Jacques Lacan’s theory of the Real, this article considers how childbirth problematises dominant notions of subjectivity, gender, and temporality. Beyond the identity category of ‘mother,’ it begins by examining childbirth as an intersubjective phenomenon which complicates the distinctions between inside andContinue reading “Impossible Births: Childbirth Beyond the (M)other in Jacques Lacan and Mina Loy”

By: Barbara Rumain Abstract: This paper argues that it is Sherlock Holmes’ characterization as a Narcissistic Personality which is largely responsible for his immense popularity. It maintains that Watson serves two functions: One function is that of being a constant source of narcissistic supply and the other is to mitigate and counteract what would otherwiseContinue reading “A Study in Sherlock: Our Fascination with Pathological Narcissism and the Narcissistic Personality”

By: Joyanta Dangar Abstract: The Spire (1964) is a novel about Jocelin, Dean of an English cathedral in the fourteenth century, who thinks that God has selected him to build a spire on his cathedral and carries it out to an impending disaster, despite his mason’s warning that the cathedral is built without adequate foundations.Continue reading “Religion and Trauma in William Golding’s The Spire”

By: Nancy Gerber Abstract: Tender is the Night inscribes themes of mental breakdown, narcissism, and death.Through the lens of Modern Psychoanalytic theory, developed by Hyman Spotnitz, andthe False Self theory of D.W. Winnicott, the essay examines Dick Diver’s psychologicalunraveling, which involves a descent from a position of power and adulation into shame,and disgrace. In contrastContinue reading “Narcissism and The Absent Mother in Fitzgerald’s Tender Is The Night”

By: Elise Denbo Abstract: Aligning psychoanalytic and embodiment approaches, this paper focuses on 1&2Henry IV using Julia Kristeva’s concept of the imaginary father, a ‘maternal-paternal conglomerate,’ as a third space within primary-narcissism. While Hal’s ‘education’ has been analyzed in relation to dualities of order and disorder, few, if any have considered Falstaff as an intrapsychicContinue reading “Prince Hal and the Body Falstaff: Theatre as Psychic Space in Shakespeare’s 1&2 Henry IV”