* The original book was published in Turkish titled "Bir Şeyler Eksik" by Metis Publishers, Istanbul, 2007. This English version is translated and printed by permission from the publishers.
What a joy! Bülent Somay’s new-old text, translated from the Turkish by Bülent himself, takes us into the impenetrable heart of obscure Lacanian psychoanalysis and comes out with clarity, wit and epithetical precision. Theory comes alive here; and along with the fun and games, something dark is brought into the light.
- Stephen Frosh, author of Feelings, Psychoanalysis Outside the Clinic, Hauntings and Those Who Come After)
With clarity, wit and copious erudition, Bülent Somay brings his critical psychoanalytic eye to our most challenging human relations – the tribulations of sex, love and desire. Somay’s committed sexual politics informs this essential addition to our knowledge of the pleasures and perils of the bonds of desire. Something is Missing is not to be missed.
- Lynne Segal, author of Radical Happiness: Moments of Collective Joy.
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction: Things We don’t Want to Know about Love, Sex and Life
Chapter 1. Something is Missing
Chapter 2. Knight in Shining Armour
Chapter 3. Jealous of You I Am
Chapter 4. That Dark/Obscure Object of Desire
Chapter 5. ‘There is No Such Thing as a Sexual Relationship’
Chapter 6. The Woman does not Exist Anyhow
Chapter 7. Silentium Universi
Chapter 8. The Truth is Out There/’The Real’ is Out There Somewhere
Index
Bülent Somay is born in Istanbul and has BA and MA degrees in English Language and Literature, and holds a PhD in Psychosocial Studies. He was a Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies in Istanbul Bilgi University between 2000 and 2017. He has published seven books in Turkish (Cinselliğe Dair Vazgeçmemiz Gereken Yüz Efsane [A Hundred Myths on Sexuality We Need to Give Up], 2016; Tarih, Otobiyografi ve Hakikat [History, Autobiography and Truth], 2015, ed.; Çokbilmiş Özne [The Subject Who Knows Too Much], 2008; Bir Şeyler Eksik [Something is Missing], 2007; Tarihin Bilinçdışı [The Unconscious of History], 2004; Şarkı Okuma Kitabı [Song Reader], 2000; Geriye Kalan Devrimdir [What Remains is the Revolution], 1997), and two books in English (The View from the Masthead, 2010; The Psychopolitics of the Oriental Father, 2014). His most recent publication is ‘The Three-Mother Problem’ in the October 2019 issue of Journal of Psychosocial Studies. He is recently living in exile as an Academy in Exile fellow in Freie Universität, Berlin.