In Praise of Risk

"To live is to accept a certain degree of risk-the risk of hairline disappointments, of a too forceful will to believe, of brusque rejections that fatigue the soul, of being misunderstood yet again, of being undone without ever being saved. We could venture the idiom 'life goes on' either with cynicism and despair or with desire. Anne Dufourmantelle's beautiful book places us on the side of life and love, showing us the power of psychoanalytic reflection on those moments when we are asked to find the courage to risk ourselves on behalf of the other."-Jamieson Webster, author of Conversion Disorder

"Magisterial. Dufourmantelle shows how life is universalized in risk and how recognizing this fact means enlisting in a fraternity among humans."-Antonio Negri

When Anne Dufourmantelle drowned in a heroic attempt to save two children caught in rough seas, obituaries around the world rarely failed to recall that she was the author of a book entitled In Praise of Risk, a trenchant critique of the psychic work the modern world devotes to avoiding risk.

Yet this is not a book on how to die but on how to live, since, for Dufourmantelle, risk entails an encounter not with an external threat to life but with something hidden in life. She therefore turns to clinical case histories that examine the ordinary fears, traumas, and resistances we face every day: personal experiences that brush up against such broader concerns as terrorism, insurance, addiction, artistic creation, and political revolution.

Working to dislodge Western philosophy, psychoanalysis, ethics, and politics from the redemptive logic of sacrifice, Dufourmantelle discovers the kernel of a future beyond annihilation where one might least expect to find it, hidden in the unconscious.

Anne Dufourmantelle, philosopher and psychoanalyst, taught at the European Graduate School. Her books in English include Power of Gentleness, Blind Date, and, with Jacques Derrida, Of Hospitality.

Steven Miller directs the Center for Psychoanalysis and Culture at the University at Buffalo, SUNY.