Kristeva, Julia ? [2005] Elliot, Anthony - The Constitution of the Subject - Primary repression after Kristeva and Laplanche.pdf

European Journal of
Social Theory
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The Constitution of the Subject: Primary Repression after Kristeva and
Laplanche
Anthony Elliott
European Journal of Social Theory 2005; 8; 25
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http://est./cgi/content/abstract/8/1/25
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European Journal of Social Theory 8(1): 25–42
Copyright © 2005 Sage Publications: London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi
The Constitution of the Subject
Primary Repression after Kristeva and
Laplanche
Anthony Elliott
UNIVERSITY OF KENT AT CANTERBURY, UK
Abstract
This article traces recent developments in European social theory and
psychoanalysis on the theory of the human subject. Critically examining the
recent psychoanalytic departures of Julia Kristeva and Jean Laplanche on the
status of primary repression as a condition for the constitution of subjectiv-
ity, an analysis is presented of the state of the subject in its unconscious
relational world. The article suggests ways in which the analyses set out by
Kristeva and Laplanche can be further refined and developed, partly
through a reconsideration of the intertwining of unconscious representation
and repression as developed in the writings of Cornelius Castoriadis, Thomas
Ogden and others. For existing psychoanalytical accounts the article suggests
we should substitute the concept of ‘rolling identification’, the psychical
basis of the shift from self-referential representational activity to