Critical Theory Between Klein and Lacan

Amy Allen is Liberal Arts Professor of Philosophy and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at The Pennsylvania State University, USA. She is the author of three books, including, most recently, The End of Progress: Decolonizing the Normative Foundations of Critical Theory (2016).Mari Ruti is Distinguished Professor of Critical Theory and of Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Toronto, Canada. She is the author of twelve books, including Between Levinas and Lacan: Self, Other, Ethics (Bloomsbury, 2015) and Distillations: Theory, Ethics, Affect (Bloomsbury Press, 2018).

• Preface1. Subjectivity2. Fusion3. Anxiety4. Affect5. Love6. Creativity7. PoliticsNotesIndex

This vibrant conversation of two brilliant theorists gives readers a chance to understand why psychoanalytic theory matters for thinking about subjectivity, affect, creativity, and politics. In conversational mode, these interlocutors bring to life difficult and important concepts, exploring the tensions among psychoanalytic positions, and giving an acute sense of life to theoretical concepts. This book makes the case for thinking carefully and well about key dimensions of selfhood, relationality, psychic states, and social relations. It brings one into the living character of thought, the fecundity of dialogue, and provides a model for intellectual friendship for our times. The text speaks to the specialist and to the curious, and helps to illuminate key concepts about psychic and social life that prove to be indispensable for understanding ourselves in the world.