Psychoanalysis neither developed from philosophy nor did it come into being in a university–psychoanalysis was born in the clinic. It was hysterical women who taught Freud. Their accounts of their pain, anxieties, and the physical symptoms they presented led him to formulate his theories about the existence of the unconscious.

Psychoanalysis is neither a theory nor a way of seeing life. It is a form of ethics unlike any other form of ethics—the subject's way of relating to the world. However, there is no doubt that it owes its existence to science. It could perhaps be termed the “science of the particular,” because it deals with the unique truth of the subject.

This book is in fact a kind of mosaic, composed from both a concluding act and an act of commencement. It is an anthology of essays and lectures of recent years, which comprise an attempt to organize and pass on what can be learned from psychoanalysis—various psychoanalytical viewpoints from various cultural disciplines, particularly ones that reflect the discontent that is inherent within them.

Through the study of the theories of Freud, Lacan, and Salvoj Zizek, the author offers riveting glimpses into the works of Moshe Gershoni, Lucian Freud, Paul Celan, Primo Levi, and others—who all bear witness to the existence of the Other, trauma, feminine jouissance, and the Real—in twentieth century culture.