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A bold, systematic account of the role of repetition in shaping modern subjectivity for Kierkegaard, Freud, and Lacan.
Repetition and Subjectivity offers an in-depth exploration of the relationship between Kierkegaard's concept of repetition and the psychoanalytic one. Starting from the thesis that what lies at the heart of repetition is an ontological principle of duality, Bara Kolenc introduces four matrices of repetition: deflation, reformation, inflation, and formation. The fourth—formation—underlies the modern subject. While the contours of this scheme can be traced back to the ancient Greeks, Kierkegaard is the first to have articulated it fully, paving the way for Freud and Lacan to outline its logic most clearly. Rich and rigorous, Repetition and Subjectivity provides a new foundation for understanding modern subjectivity. Newly examining a range of philosophical and psychoanalytic concepts, from the Greek anámnesis (remembering) to the death drive and jouissance, Kolenc reveals repetition to be not simply a phenomenon but rather a central mechanism in forming the subject's relationship with reality.
"Repetition and Subjectivity is a truly extraordinary achievement of thinking through one of the most challenging and intriguing concepts to emerge at the site of contemporary philosophy, as well as psychoanalysis, with Lacan declaring repetition one of the 'four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis.' Kolenc takes us through different facets of this concept with clarity, precision, and intellectual boldness. This is a profoundly engaging book, filled with new and crucial insights at every turn." — Alenka Zupančič, author of Disavowal
"Lucidly written and incredibly readable, Repetition and Subjectivity puts repetition to work as a historical, spatial, and contemporary concept. Why, Bara Kolenc asks, does modernity keep repeating itself? Showing how Kierkegaard anticipates Freud, Kolenc argues that we can't quite lay modernity to rest, and perhaps we don't want to. Modernity functions like an otherworldly earworm in time, elevating muse-like figures—the poet, the thinker, the lover, and so on—to vain images of themselves, repeatedly. The subject serves as a willing dupe to this movement, and yet, Kolenc's notion of the 'duty,' as opposed to the 'command,' to repeat reinvigorates at least the minimal agency of the subject. Filled with 'a-ha!' moments, this book is sure to be seriously discussed and debated by scholars situated at the nexus of psychoanalysis and philosophy." — Cindy Zeiher, author of Stupidity and Psychoanalysis: Lacanian Perspectives on New Subjectivities and Social Form