Jamieson Webster
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In this interview, the Lacanian inflected psychoanalyst, Dr. Jamieson Webster, speaks to NBIP about her new publication, The Life and Death of Psychoanalysis: On Unconscious Desire and its Sublimation (Karnac Books, 2011), a text that offers the reader/listener an opportunity to think about the recurrent anxieties that perpetually face this “impossible” profession. Interweaving her training, dreams, and encounters with the thinking of Adorno, Badiou and Lacan, the author troubles the quest for knowledge in the field of psychoanalysis, maybe particularly in its American incarnation Her book’s subtitle, “On Unconscious Desire and its Sublimation” serves as a reminder that the work of the analyst is to spend time with the ineffable, that which is imperiled, just out of reach, that which is to be reached for, perhaps, in the work of a psychoanalytic practice that aims to keep desire in circulation.
Her words will give many cause to pause as she, in a sense, champions the fields perpetual endangerment, seeing in our peril precisely the perfect position for analysis to always occupy. “Psychoanalysis,” writes Webster, “…rests on a precarious ethics that demands one steer clear of any fantasy of closure.” In this statement, we begin to hear her critique of psychoanalytic knowledge and her warm embrace of the unknown. “Knowledge, accumulated in the service of mastery or a unified self-image,” for Webster, “is antithetical to our clinical work, so why not also our theoretical work and teaching?”. A great question and among many that she deftly considers in this interview.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I listened to Dr. Webster’s interview while taking an unacompanied long walk along a gorgeous lake in Oklahoma, on a sunny and mild day in early January. Both the surroundings and this savory interview sparked my elusive desires to roam freely. A feat in itself, given my endless resistance, but focused chase, to know my inner-most fantasies which are mainly unknown and, when relatively sensed, opaque and undefined to my observing mind. This kind of catch-me-if-you-can imposible run is what psychoanalysis has taught me to be curious about and what I believe its main interest should only be. To this end, I think I am in total resonance with Dr. Webster’s views of staying away from any fantasy foreclosing the quest for knowing; but, it is not easy to do in a research-oriented world which demands evidence-based treatment outcomes. As an analyst and analysand, I rejoice to hear that I don’t have to aim to DO, but just BE and that I can sublimate my forever fantasies through the practice of an open-ended psychoanalytic system of research!
Jose A. Hevia
hi all–i see this interview is not yet up in itunes–this will be remedied asap. however, it can be listened to directly from the site itself–just click the little speaker-like icon and enjoy. Kieran, I hope you will have a chance to hear Dr. Webster’s ideas this way! best, your devoted host(ess), tracy morgan
Podcast doesn’t seem to be on I-tunes yet. Looking forward to listening to it!