Psychoanalytic Explorations of the Masculine and the Maternal

"This book's brilliant discussion through the various cases of Freud turns reading into a unique journey of psychoanalytic-linguistic detective work, making it an exploration of how the theories "act" and "enact" and how these enactments affect the culture that grew out of them."

Prof. Dana Amir, Head of the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Track in Psychoanalysis, University of Haifa, Editor in Chief of Maarag - The Israeli Annual of Psychoanalysis.

"Yael Pilowsky Bankirer gives us a fearless and profound psychoanalytic investigation that reveals the deficiencies in Freud's writing regarding the feminine and maternal. I particularly recommend it for feminist scholars, psychoanalysts and social scientists for teaching purposes, as it makes arcane information inviting and accessible".

Prof. Aner Govrin, Bar-Ilan University, Editor of Routledge Introductions to Contemporary Psychoanalysis

"It is a profoundly captivating and rich read, revealing significant innovations in psychoanalysis, particularly in feminist interpretations of Freud. The reading experience provokes thought and my imagination was engaged for hours thereafter. This is a breakthrough study that demands the reader to remain open minded when reading the complex and original ideas".

Henriette Dahan Kalev, Professor Emerita, Political Scientist, Founder and first chair of Gender Studies, Ben Gurion University

"Beautifully written and closely researched, this book deciphers censured powers of the maternal within Freud's Oedipal cases and historical narratives. By exposing 'cut off' residues of birth, cord-severance and weaning in the sacrificial ritual of circumcision, and by naming the mark of radical otherness/ nothingness erasing the mother's subjectivity, the author reimagines other conceptions of gender relations."

Prof. Joan Raphael-Leff, British Psychoanalytical Society, International Association of Psychoanalysis, and the Anna Freud Centre.