false<![CDATA[Intimacies]]>25492981<div><div>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.<br> 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, <i>Intimate Strangers</i>, with Henry James’s classic novella <i>The Beast in the Jungle</i>. 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 <i>Phaedrus</i>, 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.<br> Charmingly persuasive and daringly provocative, <i>Intimacies</i> is a rare opportunity to listen in on two brilliant thinkers as they explore new ways of thinking about the human psyche.</div></div>25568691552008Intimaciestotal:14|5:2|4:5|3:4|2:3|1:0|144828141falsefalseMon Nov 17 09:04:08 -0800 2008Mon Nov 17 09:05:53 -0800 200850falsefalseWed Oct 21 14:56:34 -0700 2009Wed Oct 21 14:56:34 -0700 200940falsefalseSat Sep 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009Sat Sep 05 18:34:37 -0700 2009Sun Sep 20 09:44:04 -0700 200900falsefalseWed Sep 02 18:58:50 -0700 2009Wed Sep 02 19:09:16 -0700 200940falsefalseSat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009Tue Aug 04 12:36:51 -0700 2009Tue Aug 04 12:37:01 -0700 200950falsefalseTue Aug 04 10:57:17 -0700 2009Tue Aug 04 10:57:17 -0700 200920falsefalseWed Jun 17 12:33:37 -0700 2009Wed Jun 17 12:33:37 -0700 200900falsefalseFri Jun 12 10:46:22 -0700 2009Fri Jun 12 10:46:22 -0700 200900falsefalseMon Jun 08 05:34:46 -0700 2009Mon Jun 08 05:34:49 -0700 200930falsefalseFri Apr 17 03:16:42 -0700 2009Fri Apr 17 03:16:42 -0700 200900falsefalseThu Feb 19 08:56:35 -0800 2009Thu Feb 19 08:56:35 -0800 200940falsefalseMon Feb 09 01:03:09 -0800 2009Fri Jan 30 11:17:13 -0800 2009Mon Feb 09 01:03:09 -0800 200920falsefalseFri Nov 21 08:00:59 -0800 2008Fri Nov 21 08:00:59 -0800 200800falsefalseSun Nov 09 19:52:06 -0800 2008Sun Nov 09 19:52:06 -0800 200830falsefalseFri Nov 07 13:05:58 -0800 2008Fri Oct 17 03:24:32 -0700 2008Fri Nov 07 13:05:58 -0800 200800falsefalseSat Oct 25 18:57:50 -0700 2008Wed Oct 15 00:48:10 -0700 2008Sat Oct 25 18:57:50 -0700 200800falsefalseSun Sep 14 12:07:20 -0700 2008Sun Sep 14 12:07:20 -0700 200800falsefalseWed Aug 27 14:59:23 -0700 2008Wed Aug 27 14:59:23 -0700 200800falsefalseSun Aug 03 06:17:41 -0700 2008Sun Aug 03 06:19:45 -0700 200830falsefalseFri Aug 01 12:10:40 -0700 2008Mon May 18 19:31:52 -0700 2009
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