The Enigma of Desire Sex, Longing, and Belonging in Psychoanalysis

Clinically astute and theoretically provocative, The Enigma of Desire recaptures the realm of sexuality for relational psychoanalysis. Atlas offers an illuminating, original construction of sexuality as located in the tension between enigmatic and pragmatic dimensions, deftly putting into play the binaries of known and unknown, seen and unseen, internal and external as well as oedipal and pre-oedipal experiences of the body. Charged with the passionate intensity of early maternal experience that has often been desexualized, Atlas's complex and creative narratives bring theoretical constructs to larger life while offering clinicians a model of sensitive, nuanced work. - Jessica Benjamin, Supervisor and Faculty, New York University Postdoctoral Psychology Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy; author of Shadow of the Other.

In The Enigma of Desire Galit Atlas challenges us to consider not only the "pragmatic" mother and infant of infant research, but also the enigmatic mother and infant, hidden, mysterious, unknown. "... some things can be heard only from inside - not through the actual observed interaction ... but rather in the enigmatic-unseen zones of the internal mind" (p. 17). The co-creation and co-regulation of desire is a topic that deserves more attention in psychoanalysis. Galit Atlas offers us an outstanding statement. - Beatrice Beebe, Ph.D. Clinical Professor of Psychology (in Psychiatry), College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University