Narcissism

This book provides a comprehensive review of the existing perspectives and applications of narcissism as a psychoanalytic concept that has been extremely influential in the fields of psychotherapy, social science, arts and humanities. Ten authors from different disciplines have been invited to write on the topic of narcissism as it is approached in their specialist field, resulting in an exciting and inclusive overview of contemporary thought on narcissism. This book is also a critical reader. Each author closely examined and analysed the possibilities and limitations of different views on narcissism. It is thus a very useful book both for students and experts who look for a deeper and broader understanding of the notion of 'narcissism' and its various psychotherapeutic, social and cultural applications.

Curk, Polona

Introduction -- Narcissism and the autonomy of the ego -- "I-not-I": narcissism beyond the one and the other -- Tracing the origins, centring on selves: reading Kohut and Kernberg from a developmental perspective -- From narcissism to mutual recognition: the "mothering" support within the intersubjective dialectic -- Narcissism, primal seduction and the psychoanalytic search for a good life -- Narcissistic wounds, race and racism: a comment on Frantz Fanon's critical engagement with psychoanalysis -- The culture(s) of narcissism: simultaneity and the psychedelic sixties -- The psychoanalytic framing of the art object as narcissistc agency -- Narcissism, individuation and old age -- "I'm not in my own skin. I want to be in my own skin": revaluing fragmentation and narcissism