A History of Psychoanalysis in Australia: From Freud to Lacan
ISBN 978064657045
“In this rich and compelling volume, Peter Ellingsen traces the intellectual and institutional development of Freud’s ideas in Australia with the meticulous attention of the historian, and the questioning eye and sharp pen of the writer”. Professor Dany Nobus
Psychoanalysis is ‘the grandest and purest of those apparatuses for the generation of knowledge-power.’ But while it has entered Australia’s culture and history, its own history has not been written. In this book, psychoanalysis in Australia comes under analysis. For the first time, it is subject to informed scrutiny. From the early awakenings, when Freud dreamt of coming to Australia, to the arrival of Lacanian analysts and the transformation of psycho-analysis, the trajectory of a unique theory of the self is charted. This sheds light not only on the kind of psychoanalysis that took root, but also investigates what kind of place Australia might be. In a land where theories of the self have tended to be bypassed, the question has been as much “where is here?” as the one associated with the internal world, “who am I?”
In this book the major theories of psychoanalysis are examined and explained, along with the narrative of those who sought to introduce Freud to Australia. It is a rich tapestry in which Freud’s dream of coming to Australia is matched by Australia’s dream of his arrival. Along the way the wilderness that Australia was for Freud is considered beside the outback white settlers sought to subdue, and the unruly unconscious that was the point of psychoanalysis.
To order or enquire about this book:
PsychOz Publications, 2012
psychoz@psychotherapy.com.au
Tel: (03) 9855 2220.
