Readings of Jean Laplanche in Process

This book is a series of interviews with nine Laplanche scholars who expand our understanding of his work and highlight its contemporary importance and applications in psychoanalytic theory and practice.

Much of Jean Laplanche’s work remains untranslated into English, but his ideas are increasingly influential in the Anglophone psychoanalytic world, especially the United States. His groundbreaking work on gender and sexuality leads the way in terms of psychoanalytic understanding of the current social and cultural developments in these areas. This work shows the ways in which his concepts migrate and transform into a global perspective through the lenses of epistemology, clinical practice, theory, culture, and linguistics. With contributions from current members of the Scientific Council of the Laplanche Foundation and prominent Laplanche scholars, this book aims to stand alongside Laplanche’s theoretical work as an example of the complexity of the relationship between theory and clinical practice.

Enriched with clinical vignettes of child and adult analysands, this book gives psychoanalysts and psychotherapists an excellent introduction to the key tenets of Laplanche’s work and its application to classic and current clinical issues.