Politics on the Couch: Psychoanalysis and the Presidency
In this special episode, Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman are joined by writer and psychoanalyst Jamieson Webster to talk about the role of psychoanalysis in politics.
By LARB Radio HourNovember 19, 2024
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Politics on the Couch: Psychoanalysis and the Presidency
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In this special episode, Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman are joined by writer and psychoanalyst Jamieson Webster to talk about the role of psychoanalysis in politics. Their discussion emerges from Webster's essay, “Freudulence,” published in the latest issue LARB Quarterly Journal, which reassesses a controversial book co-authored by Sigmund Freud that gives a psychoanalytic reading of the presidency of Woodrow Wilson, including his disastrous handling of the Treaty of Versailles. Taking the recent election into account, the panel debates if psychoanalysis indeed belongs in politics. Could it help the electorate as a tool for making wiser decisions or understanding why we’re attracted to certain leaders? How much does self-knowledge, or lack thereof, tip the scales of history?
LARB Contributor
The LARB Radio Hour is hosted by Eric Newman, Medaya Ocher, and Kate Wolf.
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Freudulence
Jamieson Webster invokes Sigmund Freud and Ambassador William C. Bullitt in an attempt to psychoanalyze political leaders, in an essay from the LARB Quarterly issue no. 42, “Gossip.”
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