Replacement - Loss and Substitution in Culture and Society#

A new publication by Naomi Segal#

Read the new publication by Professor Naomi Segal MAE, Professor Emerita at the University of London. Prof. Segal is a member of the Literary and Theatrical Studies Section of Academia Europaea since 2013. This interdisciplinary collection of essays explores the emotional, social, and psychological effects of “replacement” — when one person, relationship, or identity takes the place of another.

Replacement is always dramatic. How does one thing or person appearing in the place of another - the second baby, the new lover, the maternity cover or 'surrogate' mother - constitute a threat to the earlier occupant of that place? Or is the superseding figure haunted by the one for whom they substitute? What happens psychologically or socially to the pair-structure which is thus up-ended? Whom do we blame, whom do we hate, when we find ourselves in this drama? What do we want when we imagine ourselves to be irreplaceable? How might the idea of uniqueness lead to an unstoppable chain of repetitions?

This book is a study of replacement in a range of contexts, including psychoanalytic theory, the sibling relations of the replacement child, the undead and the failure to mourn, the replacee Medea and the replacer of Rebecca, Christianity’s supersessive relation to Judaism and the role of touch in AI, the case of André Gide, and finally the figures of the lost husband and the dead mother. Does a new thing ever fill the exact space of the old one? Or is the superseding figure haunted by the one for whom they substitute? Whom do we blame, whom do we hate, when we find ourselves in this drama? What do we want when we imagine ourselves to be irreplaceable? How might the idea of uniqueness lead to an unstoppable chain of repetitions?

The book examines themes such as sibling rivalry, surrogate motherhood, grief, jealousy, repetition, and the fear of being replaceable. Drawing on literature, film, psychoanalysis, and cultural studies, it looks at situations ranging from “replacement children” born after a sibling’s death to imposters, doubles, and adaptations in art and media. Overall, the book argues that replacement is deeply tied to human anxieties about uniqueness, love, loss, and identity.

Given the international and interdisciplinary nature of the material, the book will appeal to researchers in the humanities and social sciences.

ISBN: 978-90-04-75702-8 (hardcover)
ISBN: 978-90-04-75974-9 (ebook)
Publication date: May 2026
Publisher: Brill

About Naomi Segal#

Naomi Segal is Professor Emerita at the University of London. She researches in comparative cultural studies. She has published 19 books, including monographs Consensuality: Didier Anzieu, gender and the sense of touch (2009) and Andre Gide: Pederasty & Pedagogy (1998).