Psychoanalysis and Transversality: Texts and Interviews 1955–1971 - Semiotext (e) / Foreign Agents

Marc Notes: Translated from the French.; Originally published in French in 1972, 'Psychoanalysis and Transversality' gathers all the articles that Felix Guattari wrote between 1955 and 1971. It provides a fascinating account of his intellectual and political itinerary before 'Anti-Oedipus', the ground-breaking book he wrote with Gilles Deleuze, propelled him to the forefront of contemporary French philosophy. Publisher Marketing: Originally published in French in 1972, "Psychoanalysis and Transversality" gathers all the articles that Felix Guattari wrote between 1955 and 1971. It provides a fascinating account of his intellectual and political itinerary before "Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia" (1972), the ground-breaking book he wrote with Gilles Deleuze, propelled him to the forefront of contemporary French philosophy. Guattari's background was unlike that of any of his peers. In 1953, with psychoanalyst Jean Oury, he founded the La Borde psychiatric clinic, which was based on the principle that one cannot treat psychotics without modifying the entire institutional context. For Guattari, the purpose of "institutional psychotherapy" was not just to cure psychotic patients, but also to learn with them a different relation to the world. A dissident in the French Communist Party and active in far-left politics (he participated in the May 1968 student rebellion), Guattari realized early on that it was possible to introduce analysis into political groups. Considered as open machines (subject-groups) rather than self-contained structures (subjugated groups), these subject-groups shunned hierarchy and vertical structures, developing transversally, rhizomatizing through other groups. "Psychoanalysis and Transversality" collects twenty-four essays by Guattari, including his foundational 1964 article on transversality, and a superb introduction by Gilles Deleuze, "Three Group-Related Problems.""

Contributor Bio:  Guattari, Felix Felix Guattari (1930--1992), post-'68 French psychoanalyst and philosopher, is the author of "Anti-Oedipus "(with Gilles Deleuze), and a number of books published by Semiotext(e), including "The Anti-Oedipus Papers, Chaosophy", and "Soft Subversions."Contributor Bio:  Deleuze, Gilles Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995) was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII, Vincennes/Saint Denis. He published 25 books, including five in collaboration with Felix Guattari.