How to Cite:
Marchevsky, T. & Castrillón, F., (2024) “Editors' Introduction”, EJP import test 11(1).
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Welcome to our latest regular issue, Volume 11, No. 1. We begin by sharing the outstanding and significant news that long-time EJP core editor, Dr. Thomas Marchevsky, is now an editor-in-chief alongside Fernando Castrillón. Dr. Marchevsky has been functioning in this new role since January of this year, and this new regular issue is the direct result of our combined efforts. We have an extensive history of working together, both in the clinic and in the psychoanalytic field at large with several co-authored publications and initiatives in our name. This new editorial arrangement furthers our long-standing history of engaged work and deep collegiality. Please join Dr. Castrillón in giving Dr. Marchevsky a hearty and warm welcome in his new role with EJP.
Headlining Volume 11.1 is John Dall'Aglio’s timely contribution entitled Lacanian Reflections on the Neuropsychoanalysis Debate: From Epistemology to Ontology. The author reviews key critiques concerning the relation between the fields of neuroscience and psychoanalysis, laying bare critical epistemological issues and grappling with the challenges inherent to research in neuro-psychoanalysis. Utilizing Adrian Johnston’s Transcendental Materialism framework, the author problematizes the notion of natural ontology by arguing that the concept of nature is itself fundamentally contradictory and contains gaps. This account of ontological holes aims at generating new possibilities for dialogue between the objective realm of neuroscience and the subjective domain of psychoanalysis.
We feel fortunate to include a forceful and passionate examination of John Dall-Aglio’s article on Lacanian neuropsychoanalysis, by the always incisive and regular EJP contributor, Jan de Vos. Mounting a radical Freudo-Lacanian critique of Dall-Aglio’s endeavor, De Vos’ article, Lacanian Neuropsychoanalysis Lost in Psychologization, aims to show that both post-Freudian and neo-Lacanian projects of neuropsychoanalysis result in the psychologization of psychoanalysis and as such they abandon the non-psychological subject of the unconscious that psychoanalysis holds dear.
Our next selection, Ideal, Norm, and Law, is a compelling essay by Sebastian Baryli on subjectivity in post-Oedipal society. In this clinically significant text, the author explores the master/slave dialectic as a basis for theorizing the law in its potentially emancipatory dimensions. The author proposes that it is only in the establishment of symbolic ideals that the subject might forge a path beyond a structure of norms. Being that the subject contends with the Other in the constitution of imaginary norms and symbolic ideals, Baryli’s work raises crucial questions about the position of the analyst within the treatment.
We continue with Ulrike Benal’s fascinating examination of the role of the eyes as a conduit of communication within the process of projective identification. Utilizing the work of Enrique Pichon-Rivière and Hanna Segal, Benal’s essay, Attacks on Vision or Communication? The Concepts of Enrique Pichon-Rivière and Hanna Segal, makes the argument that projective identification via the eyes is both a way of denying communication, and also a means of communication itself. Tracing the contours of this clinically significant dynamic, Benal comment on the problematics of analytic work done remotely.
Following next is a lucid text by Sergio Benvenuto originally published in 1997 in the JEP (Journal of European Psychoanalysis), revised and updated as Psychoanalysis in Italy, Explained to Non-Italians. In this compelling essay, the author historicizes key figures and theoretical movements of Italian psychoanalysis. He reflects on whys and wherefores of the conditions that produced an eclectic, heterodox scene, and identifies potential reasons for the rise of certain trends within the Italian field. With these observations about the history of a particular place, we come to better understand not only something about Italian currents of psychoanalysis, but also to appreciate the import of the “translation” of psychoanalysis into a culture as an essential aspect of transmission.
Our previous issue (Volume 10, No. 2) marked an editorial initiative to highlight the global dimensions of EJP. Working in four languages, Spanish, Italian, Russian and English, EJP’s very structure is trans-linguistic. Wanting to make the most of this unique arrangement, in this issue we have chosen to feature five articles in translation. Current and future efforts in this direction fall under the subtitle of Idiom.
We are happy to feature two articles by the esteemed French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist, René Lew. The first article, an early version of which was given at an international colloquium in Mexico City in January 2024, dedicated to the life and work of the late Néstor Braunstein, is entitled Politics of Jouissance as the Subjectivation of the Letter. Grappling with some fundamental aspects of Braunstein’s landmark work on jouissance, Lew proceeds to clarify many muddled notions regarding the term that have developed in the field, and painstakingly leads the reader to an understanding of jouissance that looks beyond the obvious sexual side to encompass the entire existence of the subject.
Lew’s second essay, Addendum: Discussion about the Previous Presentations, wrestles with some of the comments and discussions that ensued at the same colloquium. Like his first article, this second text serves to further clarify a number of confused and confusing conceptualizations regarding Lacan’s work, such as the signifying link and the organization of discourses.
In a continuation of the Idiom section, Marta Gerez Ambertin’s insightful Varied Jouissance(s) and Paradoxes of the Superego in the Work of N.B. differentiates and examines three modes of jouissance. Drawing extensively from Braunstein’s seminal text “Jouissance: A Lacanian Concept”, the author explores a tripart model consisting of jouissance of being, phallic jouissance, and jouissance of the Other, with the aim of understanding the structure and functioning of the superego. The author emphasizes the complexity of the superego seen as both commanding enjoyment and producing guilt through paradoxical demands. The text provides a nuanced theorization of the superego’s role in psychoanalytic clinical work, offering insights about its functioning in the contemporary clinic.
In his article, Social Norms, Sexual Norms, the always original Alain Vanier undertakes the important task of examining the distance that has emerged between sexuality and the Freudian sexual, particularly as this gap relates to the social norms that regulate sexual life. Along the way, he highlights the possibility for another kind of love, non-narcissistic in nature, that is afforded by psychoanalysis.
Next we turn to an illuminating exchange between Sergio Benvenuto and Leonardo Provini, The Subject and the Masses: A Discussion. In a return to Freud’s Massenpsychologie, Benvenuto clarifies essential aspects of the theory, extending its implications to the practice of psychoanalysis. Taking into account the regressive tendencies of the group, and the consequences of the identification with a leader (or "Führer"), this dialogue responds to various problematics of the unconscious vis a vis the mass. Benvenuto argues that psychoanalysis should avoid adopting the structure of political or charismatic groups, and that its ethical challenge is that of resisting the formation of a "group of two" between analyst and analysand.
By way of concluding, we present an extended and carefully crafted book review essay authored by Edward Dioguardi featuring The End of Analysis: The Dialectics of Symbolic and Real, written by Mohamad Tal. In his thought-provoking essay, Dioguardi meditates on the riddle of “the end of analysis” in its various resonances—the end of an analysis, of a psychoanalytic school, of psychoanalysis itself. Through the use of extensive references and rich elaborations, the book review gives us a distinct taste of Tal’s work and calls on us to ponder his radical formulations.
As always, we would like to thank the contributors to this volume, as well as the steady and often unseen work of our exceptional peer reviewers and our esteemed editorial board. As well, we would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Robert Cavooris, who functioned as our managing editor for a period of several months during this summer. Dr. Cavooris’ energy, enthusiasm and conviviality made this regular issue possible, and we are in his debt. Our next regular issue is scheduled to be released in early 2025. On the Salon side, we have several upcoming projects in the works, including our “Against the Grain: Emergent Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Autism”, led by Dr. Leon Brenner, and our long-awaited section, “Climate Catastrophe and Psychoanalytic Practice”. As always, we invite you to submit articles and essays for possible publication in EJP. Please feel free to reach out to either Dr. Marchevsky or Dr. Castrillón with any question you may have regarding the journal and upcoming projects. The best way to reach us is at: ejpeditorsinchief@gmail.com.