On Replacement

This book is an interdisciplinary study of the human drama of replacement. Is one's irreplaceability dependent on surrounding oneself by a replication of others? Is love intrinsically repetitious or built on a fantasy of uniqueness? The sense that a person's value is blotted out if someone takes the [...]
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This book is an interdisciplinary study of the human drama of replacement. Is one's irreplaceability dependent on surrounding oneself by a replication of others? Is love intrinsically repetitious or built on a fantasy of uniqueness? The sense that a person's value is blotted out if someone takes their place can be seen in the serial monogamy of our age and in the lives of `replacement children' - children born into a family that has recently lost a child, whom they may even be named after. The book investigates various forms of replacement, including AI and doubling, incest and bedtricks, imposters and revenants, human rights and `surrogacy', and intertextuality and adaptation. The authors highlight the emotions of betrayal, jealousy and desire both within and across generations. On Replacement consists of 24 essays divided into seven sections: What is replacement?, Law & society, Wayward women, Lost children, Replacement films, The Holocaust and Psychoanalysis. The book will appeal to anyone engaged in reading cultural and social representations of replacement.