Clin Soc Work J (2011) 39:215216 DOI 10.

1007/s10615-011-0328-3

BOOK REVIEW

Paul Verhaeghe: New Studies of Old Villans: A Radical Reconsideration of the Oedipus Complex
Other Press, New York, 2009, 118 pp, $17.95
David Votruba

Published online: 9 February 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

In his new book, Paul Verhaeghe explores and elucidates key theoretical treatments of the Oedipus complex while providing an elegantly articulated alternative perspective on this psychoanalytic concept. His perspective both signicantly alters our understanding of the nature and role of the Oedipus complex in human biopsychosocial development and broadens and strengthens the argument for its universal applicability. Verhaeghe arrives at this alternative perspective through a brief but pithy critical analysis of Freudian and Lacanian theories. He provides additional support for it in clinical observations, contemporary relational and intersubjective psychoanalytic theories, attachment and mentalization theories, and relevant infant research. While highly sophisticated scholars of psychoanalytic theory might question the novelty of some aspects of Verhaeghes perspective, clinicians and newer students of psychoanalysis, gender studies, and related disciplines will likely nd this work intriguing, challenging, and inspiring. Verhaeghes brief Preface and Introduction provide succinct initial answers to the question of why contemporary readers should study Freudian and Lacanian theories concerning Oedipal development. Verhaeghe then presents his argument for why both Freudian and early Lacanian theories of Oedipal conict and development are insufcient and awed, not only for the now widely disseminated reasons articulated by certain feminist and postmodern theorists, but because they present only neurotic, fantastical, even hysterical, partial solutions to the early developmental problems of affect regulation and identity formation. In his chapters entitled Father and Mother, Verhaeghe provides further explanation and evidence for what he calls
D. Votruba (&) 400 Maynard Street, Suite #206, Ann Arbor, MI 48104, USA e-mail: votruba@gmail.com

Freud and Lacans methodological error (p. 34). Verhaeghe argues Freud reied the fantasized omnipotent, prohibitive father of the Oedipus complex via the invention of the myth of the primal horde. He also argues that Lacans early theory promoted the notion that a strong father is needed in order to protect the child from the seductive, rapacious crocodile mother. Verhaeghe notes that these two perspectives provide us with merely hysterical, partial solutions to early developmental challenges where a more complete, analytical solution is needed. In his longest and most complicated chapter, Jouissance, Verhaeghe demonstrates in a highly nuanced but efcient fashion how Lacans later theory, with some support from contemporary infant mentalization and attachment theory, can explain the origin and nature of earlier, awed Oedipal theories and provide a more analytic solution to the problems of affect regulation and identity formation. As Verhaeghe summarizes: The authoritarian father prohibiting jouissance, eventually threatening the subject with castration, is nothing but a social neurotic construction on top of an a priori given: the impossibility of jouissance (p. 70). Instead, [I]n this new view of the oedipal structure, the father acts merely as an agent of symbolic castration. the master signier [providing] both an identity for the subject and a safeguarding regulation in matters of enjoyment (p. 70). Verhaeghe then explains how the fathers inevitable failure to actually be the master signier (i.e. his Lacanian lack) opens up the possibility for individual identity development. It is in this chapter that Verhaeghes authoritative knowledge of Freudian and Lacanian theory combines most powerfully with his skillful writing and penchant for acute social observation. In his next chapter, Identity, Verhaeghe extends his exploration and application of later Lacanian theory further into the realm of contemporary developmental psychology

123

216

Clin Soc Work J (2011) 39:215216

and infant attachment research. Verhaeghes explanation of the primary caretakers roles with respect to the management of the impossibility of jouissance and its relationship to defensive externalization, mirroring, separation anxiety, fusion anxiety, triangulation, The Third, identity development, and adult psychopathology, while complex, is truly compelling and seems likely to inspire additional research as well as application in clinical practice. Verhaeghes integrative formulation might be particularly applicable in early intervention and parent guidance work, for example, where opportunities exist to address infant and child attachment and affect regulation related challenges. Clinicians who work with adolescents and adults might nd this theory equally applicable insofar as it helps to explain the complex relationships between problems of interpersonal attachment, identity, and affect regulation, especially as these arise in the treatment of addictions and personality disorders. Finally, in Conclusion: the Sinthome, Verhaeghe integrates his work in earlier chapters into an explanation of one of Lacans more difcult concepts and a further consideration of neurotic symptomology, idealization and identication, and the aim of psychoanalytic practice. It is here that Verhaeghe confronts his reader with a conclusion concerning the aim psychotherapeutic intervention that is both deating and liberating. Verhaeghe argues convincingly that patients and analysands must confront this conclusion if they are to be freed from a cycle of Oedipal symptom formation, resolution, and reconstitution. Much like the revised psychoanalytic cure Verhaeghe describes in the nal chapter, his book does not provide a nal, guaranteed solution to the problem of the Oedipus complex or the controversies that have surrounded it. What it does offer is a creative analytic interpretation of the

development of related psychoanalytic theories and associated social discourse as well as a compelling alternative perspective on the role of the Oedipus complex with respect to affect regulation and identity formation. With appropriate humility, Verhaeghe invites his reader to critically examine psychoanalytic theory in light of clinical experience and contemporary research, acknowledging that it is in the Lacanian lack of both his and foregoing treatments of this subject that the possibility of difference and creativity exists. This invitation into dialogue is strengthened by the inclusion of an equally humble yet provocative Forward by Juliet Mitchell which provides yet another perspective on sexuality and gender identity development. As a recent review of the research demonstrates (Shedler 2010), many psychoanalytic or psychodynamic perspectives on human psychology, psychopathology, and clinical intervention were too quickly and easily dismissed in the postmodern era. Verhaeghes book is inspiring as it challenges the reader to move beyond mere dismissal into reconsideration and reinterpretation. Furthermore, while this book will undoubtedly advance discussions of psychoanalytic theory, its implications might also prove inuential in clinical practice, especially as they are researched and applied in social work with individuals and families struggling with attachment, identity, and affect regulation related challenges and disorders.

Reference
Shedler, J. (2010). The efcacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 65(2), 98109.

123