Professor Matt Ffytche
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Email
mffytche@essex.ac.uk -
Telephone
+44 (0) 1206 873903
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Location
5A.125, Colchester Campus
Profile
Biography
I joined the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies in 2008 and served as Head of Department from 2015-2018. In 2015 I took over the Editorship of the journal Psychoanalysis and History from John Forrester, which I currently edit with Dagmar Herzog (CUNY). I have a particular interest in the history of psychoanalysis and its connection to other academic fields across the twentieth century, including the social sciences, philosophy and literature, and I am a member of the Essex research group on the History of Psychoanalysis. Besides psychoanalytic historiography, I am currently involved in two broader research projects. The first, on 'Humans in Fantasy', is attempting to develop a critical history of the use of notions of the 'imaginary', informed by psychoanalysis, in the human and social sciences across the twentieth century. Recent articles linked to this project include 'Real Fantasies: Reinserting the Imaginary in the Scene of Social Encounter' (forthcoming from Psychoanalysis Culture and Society ) and 'Throwing the Case Open: the Impossible Subject of Luisa Passerini's Autobiography of a Generation' (forthcoming from History of the Human Sciences). This project is linked to a Fellowship held at the Independent Social Research Foundation (2013-14). My second new project is on 'Outsider Writing' - loosely, historic writing and texts produced by individuals who were diagnosed with schizophrenia or other forms of psychosis, and which has either been archived in psychiatric archives, or published as an examplar of schizophrenia or of psychosis. The aim of the project is twofold. Firstly to encourage the recuration of such writing, to make it more visible beyond the psychiatric frame; secondly to study the history of the labelling and interpreting of such texts both within psychiatry, and within cultural movements (such as surrealism and art brut). This work is ongoing and has been developed through a fellowship at the Neubauer Collegium at the University of Chicago (2018-19) and a year-long period as Residential Associate at the National Center for the Humanities (2018-19). I welcome enquiries about postgraduate projects in the history of psychoanalysis, outsider writing, the 'imaginary' in the social sciences; as well as on the history of ideas of the unconscious (including in the nineteenth century) and the interactions of psychoanalysis with critical theory.
Appointments
University of Essex
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Director of Graduate Studies, Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex (2/9/2019 - present)
Research and professional activities
Research interests
The history of psychoanalysis (particularly mid-twentieth century)
post-war psychoanalysis; the Frankfurt school; the US; psychoanalytic movements and institutions; the development of Kleinian approaches; global psychoanalysis; applications of psychoanalysis
The psychoanalytic imaginary and its integration with social and psychosocial theory
Fanon, Bion, Klein, Freud, Milner, Winnicott and the translation of their notions of fantasy, phantasy and the imaginary into psychosocial applications and critical theories of the social.
Nineteenth-century theories of the unconscious
Myers; Schelling; Carus; philosophies of the unconscious; symbolism; romantic literature and philosophy
Psychoanalysis and critical theory
Adorno; Benjamin; Horkheimer; Fromm; Fanon and psychoanalysis
The relation between psychoanalysis and modernist literature
modernist experimentation; free association and stream of consciousness; surrealism; Milner; Bion; H.D.; poetry and poetics
Conferences and presentations
Outsider Hermeneutics
Keynote presentation, Outsider Hermeneutics, Neubauer Collegium, Chicago, United States, 27/10/2018
Society Without the Father: Psychoanalytic Authority in Postwar Sociology', History and Psychoanalysis During the Postwar Period, Heyman Centre, Columbia University, NY (5 April, 2014)
New York, United States, 2014
Mythos in Evolutionary Time: Schelling, Freud and H. P. Lovecrafts Cthulhu, Centre for the Study of Myth, Aberdeen (1 May, 2013).
Aberdeen, United Kingdom, 2013
The Eclipse of the Father: The Frankfurt School on the Superego in the Age of Totalitarianism, Interdisciplinary Seminars in Psychoanalysis, St John's College, Oxford (18 February, 2013).
Oxford, United Kingdom, 2013
The Embryo Individual: Early twentieth century psychodynamic perspectives on the origins of selfhood, Centre for the History of Psychological Disciplines Seminar Series, UCL (11 December, 2012).
London, United Kingdom, 2012
The Superego as a Historical Crisis, for Psychoanalysis in the Age of Totalitarianism, Wellcome Collection Centre, London (22 September, 2012).
London, United Kingdom, 2012
Talk on The Foundation of the Unconscious: Schelling, Freud and the Birth of the Modern Psyche, Forum for Nineteenth-Century Studies, Birkbeck (19 March, 2012).
London, United Kingdom, 2012
Truth and the National Interest: Freud and the Neocons, for Psychoanalysis and Politics: Nationalism and the Body Politic, Oslo, 25-27 March 2011
Oslo, Norway, 2011
Hoffmanns Mines of Falun: Myth, History and Indeterminacy in the Depths of the Soul, for Myth, Literature and the Unconscious, Centre for Myth Studies, University of Essex (2-4 September, 2010)
Colchester, United Kingdom, 2010
Psychoanalysis in the School of Cambridge Poetry (1970-2010): John Wilkinson, Denise Riley, Nick Totton, John Welch, for Poetry and Psychoanalysis, Exeter College, Oxford (1July, 2012).
Oxford, United Kingdom, 1970
Teaching and supervision
Current teaching responsibilities
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Popular Film, Literature and Television: A Psychosocial Approach (PA108)
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The Psychosocial Imagination (PA134)
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Lacanian psychoanalysis (PA405)
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Current Debates in Psychosocial Studies (PA407)
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Psychoanalytic Theory (PA901)
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Reading Freud (PA941)
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Psychoanalysis: Controversies and Contexts (PA976)
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Research Methods and Dissertation (PA981)
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Clinical Interventions and Skills 1 (HS765)
Current supervision
Previous supervision
Degree subject: Psychoanalytic Studies
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 12/1/2023
Degree subject: Psychoanalytic Studies
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 11/8/2022
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 30/4/2021
Degree subject: Psychoanalytic Studies
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 31/7/2020
Degree subject: Psychoanalytic Studies
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 10/2/2020
Degree subject: Psychoanalytic Studies
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 10/2/2020
Degree subject: Psychoanalytic Studies
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 20/1/2020
Degree type: Occasional Postgraduate Study
Awarded date: 2/10/2019
Degree subject: Psychoanalytic Studies
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 15/2/2019
Degree subject: Psychoanalytic Studies
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 20/12/2018
Degree subject: Psychoanalytic Studies
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 6/10/2016
Degree subject: Psychoanalytic Studies
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 26/1/2016
Degree subject: Psychoanalytic Studies
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 21/5/2015
Publications
Journal articles (22)
Ffytche, M., Alexander Freer, Wordsworth's Unremembered Pleasure. Reviewed by Matt ffytche. Romantic Circles
Ffytche, M., Ryan, J. and Soreanu, R., (2022). Psychoanalysis for the People: Interrogations and Innovations. Psychoanalysis and History. 24 (3), 253-267
ffytche, M., (2021). Setting Psychoanalytic Historiography on a New Footing: The Interpersonal Encounter. On Marco Conci, Freud, Sullivan, Mitchell, Bion, and the Multiple Voices of International Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis and History. 23 (2), 227-235
ffytche, M., (2021). Sinopsychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis and History. 23 (2), 125-133
Ffytche, M., (2020). Throwing the case open: the impossible subject of Luisa Passerini’s Autobiography of a Generation. History of the Human Sciences. 33 (3-4), 33-46
Ffytche, M., (2019). Real Fantasies: Reinserting the Imaginary in the Scene of Social Encounter. Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society. 24 (4), 394-412
Ffytche, M., (2017). Psychoanalytic sociology and the traumas of history: Alexander Mitscherlich between the disciplines. History of the Human Sciences. 30 (5), 3-29
ffytche, M., (2017). Editorial. Psychoanalysis and History. 19 (1), 1-5
ffytche, M., (2017). Editorial. Psychoanalysis and History. 19 (3), 293-295
ffytche, M. and ffytche, D., (2017). The secret dream laboratory. Brain. 140 (12), 3384-3386
ffytche, M., (2016). Editorial. Psychoanalysis and History. 18 (1), 1-5
ffytche, M., Forrester, J. and Molnar, M., (2015). Presentation of the English edition. Psychoanalysis and History. 17 (2), 147-149
ffytche, M., (2013). Freud and the Neocons: The Narrative of a Political Encounter from 1949-2000. Psychoanalysis and History. 15 (1), 5-44
ffytche, M., (2012). Night of the Unexpected: A Critique of the 'Uncanny ' and Its Apotheosis Within Cultural and Social Theory. New Formations: A Journal of Culture, Theory, Politics. 75 (1), 63-81
Ffytche, M., (2011). The Foundation of the Unconscious
ffytche, M., (2010). Objects and How to Survive Them: Several Views of John Wilkinson's 'Saccades'. Journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry. 2 (1), 7-34
Fox, C., Fernandez, M. and Lappin, S., (2008). Editorial. Journal of Logic and Computation. 18 (2), 147-153
ffytche, M., (2007). ‘The Most Obscure Problem of All’: Autonomy and its Vicissitudes in the Interpretation of Dreams. Psychoanalysis and History. 9 (1), 39-70
Ffytche, M., (2007). Roger and me. Chicago Review. 53 (1), 146-147
Ffytche, M., (2007). Roger and me (Keston Sutherland). CHICAGO REVIEW. 53 (1), 146-155
Ffytche, M., (2004). Fashion. Poetry Review. 94 (3), 40-
Ffytche, M., (2004). Fashion. POETRY REVIEW. 94 (3), 60-70
Books (3)
ffytche, M., (2022). Sigmund Freud. Reaktion Books. 1789145805. 9781789145793
ffytche, M. and Pick, D., (2016). Psychoanalysis in the Age of Totalitarianism. Routledge Taylor & Francis. 978-1-13-879388-0
ffytche, M., (2011). The Foundation of the Unconscious: Schelling, Freud and the Birth of the Modern Psyche. Cambridge University Press. 9780521766494
Book chapters (10)
Ffytche, M., (2016). The Superego as Social Critique: Frankfurt School Psychoanalysis and the Fall of the Bourgeois Order. In: Psychoanalysis in the Age of Totalitarianism. Editors: Ffytche, M. and Pick, D., . Routledge Taylor & Francis. 55- 70. 9781138793880
ffytche, M., (2016). Sigmund Freud: Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious. In: Routledge Handbook of Psychoanalysis in the Social Sciences and Humanities. Editors: Elliott, A. and Prager, J., . Routledge. 13- 30. 0-415-62692-7. 978-0-415-62692-7
ffytche, M. and Pick, D., (2016). Introduction. In: Psychoanalysis in the Age of Totalitarianism. Editors: Ffytche, M. and Pick, D., . Routledge Taylor & Francis. 1- 6. 978-1-13-879388-0
Ffytche, M., (2016). Sigmund Freud: Psychoanalysis and the unconscious. In: The Routledge Handbook of Psychoanalysis in the Social Sciences and Humanities. 13- 30
Pick, D. and Ffytche, M., (2016). Introduction. In: Psychoanalysis in the Age of Totalitarianism. 3- 19
ffytche, M., (2013). Investigating Bion?s Aesthetic Turn: A Memoir of the Future and the 1970s. In: Bion?s Sources: The Shaping of Genius. Editors: Torres, N. and Hinshelwood, RD., . Routledge, Taylor & Francis. 168- 178. 0415532094
ffytche, M., (2010). 'The Arduous Path of Appearance': Phenomenology and its Uncertainties in the Work of George Oppen. In: Phenomenology, Modernism and Beyond. Editors: Bourne-Taylor, C. and Mildenberg, A., . Peter Lang. 189- 214. 9783039114092
ffytche, M., (2010). The modernist road to the unconscious. In: The Oxford Handbook of Modernisms. Editors: Brooker, P., Gasiorek, A., Longworth, D. and Thacker, A., . OxfordUniversity Press. 410- 428. 9780199545445
ffytche, M., (2008). Psychology in Search of Psyches: Friedrich Schelling, Gotthilf Schubert and the Obscurities of the Romantic Soul. In: Romantic Psyche and Psychoanalysis. Editors: Faflak, J., . Praxis
Figlio, K., (2007). Sigmund Freud. In: Fifty Key Sociologists: The Formative Theorists. Reaktion Books. 50- 54. 1789145791. 9781789145793
Other (3)
Ffytche, M., (2024).The Fragile Workings of a Watchmaker. Raw Vision(119),Raw Vision
Ffytche, M., (2023).Love Actually. PSYCHOANALYSIS AND HISTORY. 25(3),Edinburgh University Press
Ffytche, M., (2022).Outsider Writing. Raw Vision(111),Raw Vision
Grants and funding
2024
Reconstructing the Social Link: A Clinical Anthropology of the Psychoanalytic Treatment of Psychosis
European Commission
2022
The Antiracist Clinic: Political Freudianism and Black Psychoanalysis in the 20th and 21st Centuries
European Commission
2014
Social Theoretical Contexts for the Conceptualisation of Transgenerational Trauma and Projective Identification
ISRF
