Freud's Footnotes Book

Darian Leader's writings on psychoanalysis--in particular, his provocative Why Do Women Write More Letters Than They Post?--have been warmly welcomed by readers and critics. A founder member of the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research in London, Leader's work is decisively influenced by that of the French psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan, whose approach to the problems of desire and symptom in psychoanalysis makes itself felt throughout Leader's new book, Freud's Footnotes. The title of this book may be misleading: it is not a study of Freud's often fascinating use of footnotes. Rather, Leader is concerned with the intellectual sources and contexts of Freud's writings and, more generally, the various schools of psychoanalysis they support. Six chapters treat six different "episodes" in the history and theory of psychoanalysis, beginning with Freud's scientific background and concluding with an analysis of the concept of the "depressive position" in the work of Klein and Lacan. On route, Leader explores the intellectual background to the idea of an "internal world"--central to psychoanalysis and traced here through the development of modern optics--as well as the shifting approaches to sexuality and gender, creativity and fantasy which characterise psychoanalytic thinking. Whatever the topic, Leader's approach is consistent. "I have tried in this book to pay attention to details", he notes; certainly, the uncovering and analysis of the detail of translation, intellectual context, conceptual and personal influence dominate the book. To a reader well schooled in Freud, the wealth of detail and reference may well be invaluable. But in both scope and style, Freud's Footnotes makes few concessions to those not so familiar with the institutional and theoretical debates which frame, and give a purpose to, Leader's reading of psychoanalysis and its concepts. --Vicky LebeauRead More