Moustapha Safouan is an 85 year old Egyptian psychoanalyst living in Paris. His father was one of the founders of the Egyptian Communist party. As a young man in post-war Paris he was one of Jacques Lacan's first students. He has published widely in psychoanalysis. This book has been translated from Arabic and the English text has ben completely re-worked by Colin MacCabe to make it as accesible to Western readers as possible. Colin MacCabe considers it the most important book that he has edited in over thirty years as an editor for Macmillan/Palgrave, British Film Institute and Blackwells.