Psychoanalysis and Literature: Defending the Symbolic Order

A group of psychoanalysts—Anne Dufourmantelle, Jean-Marie Hirt, Philippe Lacadée, Jean-Pierre Lebrun, and Michel Schneider—have published books arguing that literature remains vital for understanding desire and subjectivity against the rise of a 'new psychic economy' that denies lack and promotes perversion. Jean-Pierre Lebrun's 'La perversion ordinaire' diagnoses a 'motherversion' that binds individuals to maternal jouissance, while Michel Schneider's 'La confusion des sexes' defends the symbolic order against feminist and homosexual alliances. Anne Dufourmantelle's 'La femme et le sacrifice' explores sacrificial individuation through heroines in Shakespeare, Kleist, and Woolf. Jean-Marie Hirt's 'L'insolence de l'amour' draws on Freud to show how love individuates against social conformity. Philippe Lacadée's 'L'éveil et l'exil' uses Rimbaud's poetry to illuminate adolescent transition. The books were published by Denoël, Albin Michel, Cécile Defaut, and Flammarion in 2007.