Review of the Subversive Edge of Psychoanalysis by David James Fisher

 

Book Review, THE SUBVERSIVE EDGE OF PSYCHOANALYSIS London and New York: Routledge/History of Psychoanalysis series, 2025, pp. 236. From “Sihot—Dialogue: Israel Journal of Psychotherapy”

By Ofra Eshel, Ph.D.

Dr.Eshel is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Israel Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. She is the author of The Emergence of Analytic Oneness: Into the Heart of Psychoanalysis (Routledge, 2019).

Dr. David James Fisher is a core faculty member at the New Center for Psychoanalysis, a. Training and Supervising Analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis both in Los Angles, and a practicing psychoanalyst in private practice in Los Angeles. He works in the tradition of British Object Relations psychoanalysis and has taught psychoanalysis for 45 years. Fisher is a prominent and senior researcher in the history of psychoanalysis. His research focuses on the historical development of psychoanalysis, in dialogue with intellectual history, as well as the contributions of psychoanalysis to politics, literature, film, and the arts.

The book includes 22 chapters divided into six parts or themes, developed over four decades of research and clinical work. It explores the evolution of psychoanalytic thought in the 20^th century, within both British and American contexts, and examines influential figures and pivotal events in the cultural history of psychoanalysis during that era—most of them based on Fisher’s personal experiences and memories.

The book is divided into six parts. The first part attempts to define and clarify the subversive tendencies of psychoanalysis (5 chapters). The second part: addresses British Psychoanalysis (7 chapters). The third part offers readings of Freud through the interpretative and cultural lenses 2 chapters). The fourth part examines the influence of the French School and Lacanian theory (2 chapters). The fifth part explores intersections between psychoanalysis and broader political and historical themes, particularly in the American context (3 chapters). The sixth part includes an epilogue titled “The Psychoanalytic Journey of a Clinician,” which is an interview with psychohistorian Paul Elovitz.

This is a rich, wide-ranging and thought-provoking volume.