Moustapha Safouan, in this courageous and honest book, confronts head-on the problem of Arab despotism, examining it from the point of view of political philosophy, religious argument and linguistic history.

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• A ground-breaking book written by the eminent Lacanian psychoanalyst Moustapha Safouan.
  
• Rejects explanations of Arab despotism which appeal either to imperialism or to notions of Arab culture in favour of an analysis which focuses on the relations between writing and power.
  
• Investigates the divorce between the classical Arabic which is the medium of education and the diverse vernacular Arabics which are the languages of the streets.
  
• A tour de force of political philosophy, religious argument and linguistic history.

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.