"Fletcher offers a distinctly original reformulation of a psychoanalytic account of fantasy and memory, focusing on its belated and non-mimetic dimensions. This account has far-reaching consequences for the status and ethical value of psychoanalysis within contemporary intellectual life... The chapters of this book are distinguished not only by their enormous theoretical power and precision, but by Fletcher's nearly uncanny ability to read both literary and theoretical texts with great powers of illumination and nuance. It is rare to find someone who combines his capacity for sustained and lucid abstract discussion with such a fine capacity for close textual reading." -- -Judith Butler University of California, Berkeley "There can be no doubt that this book will reward scholars across a number of disciplines: literary studies, trauma studies, psychoanalysis and psychology, and philosophy" -Choice Magazine "This book is a gem. It is written on a number of levels: Freud's scholarship, literary scholarship, psychoanalytic scholarship, and psychology. It has depth and subtlety at the same time as providing a good read for a wide range of audiences. I recommend it wholeheartedly to students at all levels of seniority, including the most serious of scholars." -- -Peter Fonagy University College London