Jonathan House, “Laplanche: An Introduction” (The Unconscious in Translation, 2015)

This interview with Jonathan House is about a book titled Laplanche: An Introduction (The Unconscious in Translation, 2015). Dr. House is not the author of the book (more on that below) but he is the publisher and translator of portions of the book. This interview tries to understand Laplanche: An Introduction in the context of House’s expertise as a teacher, translator, scholar, and publisher of the works of the French psychoanalyst, Jean Laplanche.

Laplanche consists of three essays including a long introductory essay by Dominique Scarfone which presents a broad overview of the evolution and scope of Laplanche’s theory. The second section of the book is an essay written in 1964 by Jean Laplanche and J.B. Pontalis on the origins of phantasy, desire, and the unconscious. This essay was translated by House. The final section of the book is another essay by Jean Laplanche, “Preface to Beyond the Pleasure Principle.”

Dr. House teaches in the literature department at Columbia University and serves as a Training and Supervising Analyst at the University’s Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. He is also the founder of a publishing enterprise called “The Unconscious in Translation” which specializes in translating and publishing the works of Jean Laplanche and other French thinkers. In this interview, I hope to introduce the listener to the flavor of Laplanche’s thinking and to Dr. House’s passion about the importance of Laplanche to the psychoanalytic endeavor as it relates to the sexual unconscious.

Philip Lance, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist with a private practice in Los Angeles. He is candidate at The Psychoanalytic Center of California. He can be reached at PhilipJLance@gmail.com.

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