Voluntary Servitude. Masochism and Morality

Le Soldat’s Voluntary Servitude. Masochism and Morality presents an extraordinary analysis of masochism, the subject, death drive and sexual discourse inspired by Freudian drive theory, philosophy, gender theory, political science and mythology. This book will certainly evoke the reader’s curiosity, but even more than that it will encourage readers critical reflection on the clandestine defensive formations between the psyche and reality that, in the author’s view, obscure pleasure principle by corrupting the death drive and the body. Le Soldat presents an unprecedented formulation in psychoanalytic literature to date, one of incomparable significance not only for our clinical work, but also for critical theoretical reflection on society and its vicissitudes. As a result of their defensive stances, we encounter ‘masochistic subjects of servitude’ enclosed in a world of wars, economical rivalries, regressive brutality of consumerism, religious dependency and political mania. Drawing on the work of Freud and Adorno, and balancing theoretical and clinical material, this is essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and anyone who seeks to understand the concept of voluntary servitude.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: Pulsional Demand and Wish Fulfillment 1.Disentangling Aggression and Sexuality. 2 The Identification with the Aggressor is not Happening 3. Remarkable Alliances 4. A “Mishap” in Germany 5. Three Lessons from an Objective Triumph 6. On the Necessity of Lying 7. The Ability to Remain Silent and the Task of Theory 8. A Disarming Contradiction 9. From Sadism to the Death Drive Part 2: The Economy of Excitation 1. The Drummer’s Dream 2. A Female Rescue Phantasy 3. The Physicist’s Dog 4. Somebody’s Late 5. The Diagnostic Dilemma 6. Two Paths to Masochism 7. Voluntary Servitude 8. The Search for the “Subjective Factor” 9. A Little Parapraxis 10. On the Utilization of Pulsional Energy 11. Aggression, the Distinction between the Sexes, and Infantile Neurosis 12. The Principle of the Death Drive 13. Masturbation Technique and Anxiety Signal Part 3: Masochistic Pleasure 1. A Contribution to Decreasing Tension 2. Pleasure and Duration 3. The Object of Identification 4. A Forgotten Cultural Achievement 5. Splendor and Misery of the Superego 6. Who's Afraid of Castration 7. Unavoidable Pain

About the Author :
Judith Le Soldat (1947-2008) was a Swiss psychoanalyst, researcher, lecturer and author. She was born in Budapest and lived in Zurich, where she studied psychology and ran her own psychoanalytic practice from 1974. Her first monograph Voluntary Servitude. Masochism and Morality was published in 1989. In her second monograph (1994), she presented an exciting, completely new understanding of Oedipal conflicts (see the critical edition of the book published in 2020 under the title Raubmord und Verrat - Robbery murder and betrayal). She worked on a third monograph on male homosexuality, but left it unfinished. The book was published posthumously in 2018 under the title Land of No Return. The lectures Judith Le Soldat gave at the University of Zurich in 2006/07 were also published posthumously. They appeared as the first volume of Le Soldat’s Collected Works in 2015 under the title Grund zur Homosexualität (Grounds for Homosexuality). Grounds for Homosexuality contains an introduction to both her theory of the Oedipal Conflicts and her theory of homosexuality and is therefore well suited as an introduction to her entire oeuvre. - Further publications by Judith Le Soldat, in German, s. www.lesoldat.ch

Review :
"In her brilliant monograph, Judith Le Soldat investigates and clearly distinguishes the clinical phenomena of individual masochism as well as the symptoms of socially produced masochism. In her lucid and profound analysis, she reveals the destinies of the individual’s inner drive-defence dynamics, but also traces different mechanisms of interplay between sociopolitical power and individual psyche. This masterpiece is an indispensable contribution to the psychoanalytic investigation of the intermediate realm (Zwischenreich) that connects the individual and society." PD Markus Fäh, Ph.D., Zurich (Switzerland), Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna and Berlin. "With impressive acumen, Le Soldat’s Voluntary Servitude, Masochism and Morality lays bare the intricacies of psyche and society as both reflect the Triebhaftigkeit (pulsionality) of the unconscious and its ever-robust survival in disguise of voluntary servitude. The death drive - an axiom of life, alongside Eros, doesn’t stay immune against social amnesia as it partakes in bolstering voluntary servitude. In dialog with Freud, La Boétie and Adorno the author raises fundamental questions on foundations of human cruelty, warfare, capitalism, populism, Nazism – uncannily reverberating from therapist’s consulting rooms to global crises. Intriguing and captivating - this book stands out as an absolute imperative in today’s psychoanalytic and sociopolitical discourse." Elisabeth Geiger und Dr. Christoph Kappeler, analysts in their own practice, trained by Judith Le Soldat from the beginning of her career until 2008; both are faculty at Psychoanalytic Seminar Zürich.