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This article explores the themes of psychoanalysis and Lacanian theory discernible in the HBO version of Westworld (HBO 2016-). This article argues that it is productive to examine the series through a psychoanalytic lens, especially through Jacques Lacan's concept of the Real. In an examination of Season One of the series, we argue that this new show-given its focus on psychological landscapes and trauma-requires a deeper textual analysis to uncover similar Lacanian themes. These are themes signposted by the quite literal depictions of therapy sessions shown throughout the season. At the heart of the show lies a double irony about the human and non-human characters in the show. Westworld's robotic characters are gripped by the complexity of their memories: memories pre-programmed, easily adjusted and changed by the scientists running the park. Then, we see the actual human figures of the show in hot pursuit of violent sexual desires, thoughtlessly enacting free plays of desire without consequence and the conscientious interruption of the superego or the 'Law'. To explain this, we firstly provide an introduction to the contextual origins of the three psychoanalytic orders (or triad) developed in Lacan's writings, particularly looking at Seminar II of 1954-1955. Using this framework, we then focus on a textual analysis of four key characters in the series, and how each negotiates journeys through these conceptual/spatial zones that delineate some 'encounter with the Real'. Finally, we argue that the text's complex narrative devices become allegorical for the viewer him-or herself as a lost figure in search of answers, allowing a meta-analysis of key themes of the show.

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This article responds to Roland Boer's Marxism and Theology (2007-13) that offers a unique contribution to understanding the current impasse in revolutionary Left politics and illustrates the importance of the numerous references to theology in Marxist literature. In this response, I focus on Boer's argument of Marxism and Judaeo-Christian theology occupying a similar contested space with respect to their uses of ''political myth.'' I argue that the key to Boer's critical project is a two-pronged approach: ''materializing'' theology and ''theologizing'' historical materialism. For this critical endeavor to make inroads, it relies not just on the ambivalence of political myth, but also that myths are essential to Marxist theories of emancipation, as well as to Marx's notion of ''the Aufhebung of Religion.'' I focus on two figures: Ernst Bloch as a Marxist who emphasizes myth's emancipatory qualities; and Theodor Adorno as wary of myth while adhering to the theological motif of the bilderverbot. From this analysis, we can begin to see how much Boer's project depends on a wager on political myth itself. KeywordsMarxism, theology, criticism of heaven and earth, Roland Boer, political myth Marxism and theology?For all Roland Boer's (2007-13) emphases on the revolutionary appeal of the ''untimely,'' it appears his five-volume series of books on Marxism and theology indeed is a ''timely''

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