Laurence Arthur Rickels is currently professor of German and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Santa Barbara and adjunct professor in the Art and the Film Studies Departments. He is the Sigmund Freud Professor of Media and Philosophy at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.
While his reputation and career seems to traverse a diverse group of interests and institutions, there is at the same time a “continuity shot” to follow throughout in his commitment to psychoanalysis and problems of mourning.
“Rickels’ work, it is worth pointing out, is reminiscent of Harold Bloom’s The Anxiety of Influence, both in its command of the contributions of Freud’s early followers to classical psychoanalysis and in its desire to challenge literary studies with a mode of reading that exceeds the boundaries of text-immanent criticism. Rickels is unlike Bloom, however, in his insistence that the psychoanalysis of literature must go beyond the notions of patricidal writing that followed a generation of psychoanalysts’ reduction of Freud’s thought to the Oedipal scenario” (Modern Language Notes 112, 1997: 487).
At The Lawrenceville School, he pursued an independent study focusing on the pathogenic influence of prevented mourning on the survivors of Nazi German concentration camps, for which he received the Sterling Morton Prize, 2nd Place in 1972.
Laurence Rickels received his B.A. in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania in 1975. While enrolled at Penn he spent a year abroad at the Free University of Berlin, which he extended by an additional semester at the end of which (in 1973) he passed the Berlin institution's entry examination for graduate study in German literature.
He earned his Ph.D. in German Literature at Princeton University in 1980.
In the 1990s Rickels earned a Masters in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University of Southern California and trained and interned as a psychotherapist in Santa Barbara under the supervision of psychoanalyst Lawton Smith.
* “Politics and Psychosis.” The Germanic Review, Vol. 83, no. 1 (Winter 2008): 25-41.
* "Sounds of Satan." The Dreams of Interpretation: A Century down the Royal Road. Ed. Catherine Liu, John Mowitt, Thomas Pepper, and Jakki Spicer. University of Minnesota Press, 2007.
* "Dem Schleier gleich." Äther: Ein Medium der Moderne. Ed. Albert Kümmel-Schnur and Jens Schröter. Transcript, 2007.
* “The Body of His Work” / ”Il corporo della sua opera.” Meneghetti. Opere/Works 2000-2006. Ed. Achille Bonito Oliva. Electa, 2006: 51-59. [Contribution to the catalogue accompanying a retrospective exhibition held Summer 2006.]
* “Devil Father Mine.” Lust for Life. On the Writings of Kathy Acker. Ed. Amy Scholder, Carla Harryman, and Avital Ronell. Verso Press, 2006: 78-98.
* “Zwölf Filme.” Ulrike Ottinger. Bildarchiv. Verlag für moderne Kunst Nürnberg, 2006.
* “Twelve Films.” Ulrike Ottinger. Image Archive. Verlag für moderne Kunst Nürnberg, 2006: 495-509.
* “Totem Taboo.” artUS, no. 11 (2006).
* “The Case of Oscar Wilde.” Le Voyage interieur. Paris-London, ed. Alex Farquharson and Alexis Vaillant, Espace EDF Electra (exhibition catalogue, 2005).
* “Alle-Gory.” Alle-Gory, Mandarin Gallery, 2005 [The catalogue accompanied the group show curated at Mandarin Gallery, Los Angeles, under the same title, December 3, 2005 - January 14, 2006].
* “Delay in the Machine Age. Part I.” artUS, no. 10 (2005).
* “Sue de Beer: Visitation Rites.” artUS, no. 9 (2005).
* “David Askevold.” artUS, no.9 (2005).
* “The Portrait Under Surveillance.” artUS, no. 5/6 (2005).
* “Haunts of Assimilation.” David Deutsch. Photographs/Paintings. 2 volumes. Twin Palms Publishers, 2005.
* “Das Hund.” Flashforward. Film by Eva Meyer and Eran Schaerf, 2004. Seven artists and writers (including Elfriede Jelinek) contributed either a text (and reading) or a performance as quilting points within the film.
* “Satan and Golem, inc.” parallax, Issue 30 (2004): 49-57.
* “My Last Interview with Ulrike Ottinger: on Southeast Passage and Beyond.” Subtitles: On the Foreignness of Film, ed. Atom Egoyan and Ian Balfour, The MIT Press, 2004.
* “Eran Schaerf: All of the Above.” The Promise The Land. Jewish-Israeli Artists in Relation to Politics and Society. O. K Centrum für Gegenwartskunst Oberösterreich. Folio, 2004: 146-149.
* “Gross und Gross, Inkorporiert.” Die Gesetze des Vaters: Hans Gross, Otto Gross, Sigmund Freud, Franz Kafka, ed. Gerhard Dienes and Ralf Rother, Böhlau Verlag, 2003: 196-209.
* “The Emperor’s New Closure.” art / text, vol. 70 (2000).
* “Larry Johnson.” art / text, vol. 69 (2000).
* “Katy Schimert: Blind Spot and Insight.” art / text, vol. 68 (2000).
* “Resistance in Theory.” Material Events. Paul de Man and the Afterlife of Theory. Ed. Tom Cohen, Barbara Cohen, J. Hillis Miller, and Andrzej Warminski. University of Minnesota Press, 2000: 153-179.
* “Bridge Isn’t Falling Down.” Laura London: After School Special. Los Angeles: works on paper, inc., 2000.
* “Midlife Criticism and the Teen Age.” Förtechning över Swedish Department. Riksustall-Ningar / Swedish Traveling Exhibitions, 2000.
* “Just a Test.” Mike Kelley. Magasin. Centre National d’Art Contemporain, 1999: 29-36.
* “American Psychos: The End of Art Cinema in the ‘90s.” art / text, vol. 67 (1999).
* “Art/Journalism.” X-TRA, vol. II, no. 4 (Summer 1999). [accompanied the exhibition “Art/Journalism” curated at the Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica, Summer 1999]
* “Toto-lization.” Jeremy Blake. One Hit Wonder. Los Angeles: works on paper, inc., 1999.
* “Mine.” Terminals. Ed. Connie Samaras and Victoria Vesna. Delta Graphics, 1999: 63-86.
* “Matthew Antezzo.” Nach-Bild, vol. 25 (1999).
* “T.J. Wilcox. The Loss Generation.” art / text, vol. 64 (1999).
* “Scream IV.” Space, Site, and Intervention: Issues in Installation and Site-Specific Art. Ed. Erika Suderburg. University of Minnesota Press, 1999: 209-219.
* “Kim Yasuda: The Canyon That Took the Place of a Couch.” Art in General (1999).
* “Giving Up the Ghost of a Fetish: Between the Couples Theory of Marxo-Freudianism and Nazi Psychoanalysis.” The South Atlantic Quarterly, 97, 2 (1998): 297-325.
* “Phantoms of Opera.” art / text, vol. 63 (1998).
* “Bite Sighs. A Eulogy for Martin Kippenberger.” Martin Kippenberger. Hotel Drawings. 1988 - 1990. Los Angeles: works on paper, inc., 1998.
* “Landscape from LA.” Spring Journal 1, 1 (1998).
* “Cryptology.” Hi-Fives: A Trip to Semiotics. Ed. Roberta Kevelson. New York, 1998: 191-204.
* “Already Given at the Office: On Techno Feminism.” parallax, 5 (1997): 69-78.
* “Tot’s Tomb.” aRude 3. 1 (Spring 1997).
* “Silent Reading.” Larry Johnson, ed. Scott Watson. Vancouver: Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, The University of British Columbia, 1996. 25-32.
* “Digging Psychoanalysis.” Freud and the Passions, ed. John O’Neill. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996. 201-229.
* “Wall-Eyed Ghosts.” Lari Pittman Drawings, ed. Elizabeth A. Brown. Seattle/London: University of Washington, 1996. 102-105.
* “Psy Fi Explorations of Out Space: On Werther’s Special Effects.” Outing Goethe & His Age, ed. Alice A. Kuzniar. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996. 147-173.
* “Theory on TV: Gadget Goes to Florida - Laurence A. Rickels Talks with Gregory Ulmer.” Artforum (January 1996).
* “Dragula.” aRude 1.2 (Fall 1995).
* “Theory on TV: Making a Killing - Laurence A. Rickels Talks with Michel Serres.” Artforum (April 1995).
* “Psy Fi.” Alphabet City 4/5 (1995): 96-102.
* “Heil Homosexuality.” GLQ A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 2.1-2 (1995): 36-63.
* “The Art of Psy Fi.” Narcissistic Disturbance. Los Angeles: Otis College of Art and Design, 1995: 16-25.
* “The Kings and I: Laurence A. Rickels talks with Klaus Theweleit.” Artforum (September 1994).
* “Speaking Djaman: An Interview with Kiki Smith.” Thresholds: Viewing Culture 8 (1994).
* “Act Out/Turn On.” Artforum (April 1994).
* “Insurance for and against Women: From Nietzsche to Psychotherapy.” Nietzsche and the Feminine, ed. P. Burgard, University Press of Virginia, 1994: 257-286.
* “Body Bildung: Laurence A. Rickels talks with Kathy Acker.” Artforum (February 1994).
* “It’s a Wound-erful Life: Laurence A. Rickels talks with Rosa von Praunheim.” Artforum (December 1993).
* “Faust, Freud, and the Missing Entries into War.” assemblage 20 (1993): 64-65.
* “Opportunistic Diagnosis - Laurence A. Rickels on Jean Baudrillard’s Transparency of Evil.” Artforum (Summer 1993).
* “Camp.” Modern Language Notes 108 (1993): 484-499.
* “Real Time Travel: Laurence Rickels talks with Ulrike Ottinger.” Artforum (February 1993).
* “Mickey Marx.” Lusitania 1.4 (1993): 205-215.
* “Mummy’s Curse.” The American Journal of Semiotics. 9.4 (1992): 47-58.
* “Spooky Electricity: An Interview with Friedrich Kittler.” Artforum (December 1992).
* “Missing Marx: or, How to Take Better Aim.” Strategies 6 (1991): 70-92. Reprinted in Strategies for Theory: From Marx to Madonna. Ed. R. L. Rutsky and Bradley J. Macdonald. State University of New York Press, 2003: 249-267.
* “Alex.” The American Journal of Semiotics. 7.3 (1990): 53-61.
* “Dear Diary.” Stendahl Syndrome: The Cure. New York: Andrea Rosen Gallery and Techne Group, 1990.
* “Psychoanalysis on TV.” SubStance 61 (1990): 39-52.
* “Music Phantoms: Uncanned Conceptions of Music from Josephine the Singer to Mickey Mouse.” SubStance 58 (1989): 3-24.
* “Kafka and Freud on the Telephone.” Modern Austrian Literature 22.3/4 (1989): 211-225.
* “Subliminalation.” Qui Parle (Paranoia/Schizophrenia) 2.1 (Spring 1988): 18-42.
* “Friedrich Torberg.” Major Figures of Modern Austrian Literature, ed. Donald G. Daviau, Ariadne Press, 1988: 397-422.
* “Psychoanalysis and the Two Orifices of Film.” The American Journal of Semiotics. 5.3/4 (1987): 419-445.
* “Kafka and the Aero-Trace.” Franz Kafka and the Contemporary Critical Performance: Centenary Readings, ed. Alan Udoff, Indiana University Press, 1987: 111-127.
* “The Road Belong Cargo.” Qui Parle 1.2 (Spring 1987): 26-36.
