# Intimacies - Paperback

by **Leo Bersani** (Author)

Two gifted and highly prolific intellectuals, Leo Bersani and Adam Phillips, here present a fascinating dialogue about the problems and possibilities of human intimacy. Their conversation takes as its point of departure psychoanalysis and its central importance to the modern imagination-though equally important is their shared sense that by misleading us about the importance of self-knowledge and the danger of narcissism, psychoanalysis has failed to realize its most exciting and innovative relational potential.  
In pursuit of new forms of intimacy they take up a range of concerns across a variety of contexts. To test the hypothesis that the essence of the analytic exchange is intimate talk without sex, they compare Patrice Leconte's film about an accountant mistaken for a psychoanalyst, _Intimate Strangers_, with Henry James's classic novella _The Beast in the Jungle_. A discussion of the radical practice of barebacking-unprotected anal sex between gay men-delineates an intimacy that rejects the personal. Even serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and the Bush administration's war on terror enter the scene as the conversation turns to the way aggression thrills and gratifies the ego. Finally, in a reading of Socrates' theory of love from Plato's _Phaedrus_, Bersani and Phillips call for a new form of intimacy which they term "impersonal narcissism" a divestiture of the ego and a recognition of one's non-psychological potential self in others. This revolutionary way of relating to the world, they contend, could lead to a new human freedom by mitigating the horrifying violence we blithely accept as part of human nature.  
Charmingly persuasive and daringly provocative, _Intimacies_ is a rare opportunity to listen in on two brilliant thinkers as they explore new ways of thinking about the human psyche.

### Author Biography

**Leo Bersani** is professor emeritus of French at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including _The Freudian Body: Psychoanalysis and Art_ and _Homos_. **Adam Phillips** is a psychoanalyst, visiting professor in the Department of English at York University, the general editor of Penguin Modern Classics's Freud translations, and the author of twelve books, including _Going Sane_ and _Side Effects_.

**Number of Pages:** 134

**Dimensions:** 0.36 x 8.52 x 5.6 IN

**Publication Date:** June 15, 2010

## Details

- **Price:** 35.91 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 35.91 USD | In stock |

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