Lacan, Kris and the Psychoanalytic Legacy: The Brain Eater

Lacan, Kris, and the Psychoanalytic Legacy: The Brain Eater explores the case of Professor Brain, a scholar who struggled to publish his research due to his fixation on plagiarism, and his relationship with three leading psychoanalysts of the 20th century: Melitta Schmideberg, Ernst Kris, and Jacques Lacan. Sergio Benvenuto reconstructs the case through the first-hand accounts of the patients analysts and Lacan, and explains Lacans theories as they apply to the case, including foreclosure of orality, obsessional neurosis, mental anorexia, and his opposition to Ego psychology.

Format: Hardback
Length: 124 pages
Publication date: 11 August 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Lacan, Kris, and the Psychoanalytic Legacy: The Brain Eater delves into the enigmatic case of a scholar, which garnered the attention of three renowned psychoanalysts of the 20th century: Melitta Schmideberg, Ernst Kris, and Jacques Lacan. Sergio Benvenuto unravels the intricate case history of Professor Brain, a man plagued by a relentless obsession with plagiarism, hindering his ability to publish his research. Despite his anonymity, Benvenuto meticulously reconstructs the narrative through firsthand accounts of the patient's analysts, including Lacan, and contextualizes it within the mid-century psychoanalytic debate. As we delve into the patient's story, Benvenuto elucidates Lacan's theories, such as the foreclosure of orality, obsessional neurosis, mental anorexia, and his steadfast opposition to Ego psychology, of which Kris was a prominent representative. This captivating book holds immense appeal for psychoanalysts in both practice and training, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, as well as academics and scholars engaged in philosophy, the history of psychoanalysis, literature, and cultural studies.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032482354