The Interpretation of the Flesh

“The Interpretation of the Flesh” unites the Lacanian and Kleinian object-relations theories used in feminist debates on psychoanalysis today. It does so as it dissects Freud’s writings, proposing a solution to his riddle of feminity. The solution depends on unravelling Freud’s neglected if confused theories of psychical energy, while discarding the assumption that the “subject” is energetically and emotionally self-contained. In this, Teresa Brennan offers a new way of thinking about the relationship between the psychical, the social and the physical. More than this: “The Interpretation of the Flesh” shows how “femininity” is a literal physical weight on the shoulders of those who carry it, and how that weight might be lifted. This book should be of interest to undergraduates and academics in women’s studies, psychoanalysis and the philosophy of science.