Original Article Anne Carson’s ‘Book of Isaiah’ and the secular unconscious Concetta V. Principe English Department, Trent University, 55 Thornton Road South, Oshawa, ON L1J 5Y1, Canada. E-mail: cprincipe@trentu.ca Abstract This paper furthers my argument that the religious messianic figure in secular projects reflects a trauma of secularism. I make my case through an analysis of Anne Carson’s poetic treatment of the biblical text The Book of Isaiah, a text that has been valuable for both Christians and Jews in defining the messiah (Isaiah 53) and in promoting Judaism’s role as a ‘‘light to the nations’’ (49:6). Carson’s poetic revision of this biblical text for a secular audience explains how the trauma of secularism is an issue that we, as members of a modern society, unconsciously inherit, replete with the blind assumptions and prejudices that serve secular ideology. Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41282-019- 00145-5 Keywords: Anne Carson; The Book of Isaiah; secularism; the ‘‘suffering servant’’; messiah; Lacan Introduction Late, on a Sunday night in the spring of 2019, behind closed doors, ministers of Quebec’s provincial parliament passed Bill 21 into law that prohibited the wearing of religious symbols such as the Jewish kippah, the Sikh turban, and the Moslem hijab by certain public employees: specifically, teachers, lawyers, judges, and police officers. This law had been shaped in the name of laicity: the secular effort to separate state from religion so as to ensure state neutrality toward social equality. Only by erasing sectarian difference can the state ensure equality among its citizens; only by addressing everyone equally can the state perform its task with neutrality. This closed logic Ó 2020 Springer Nature Limited. 1088-0763 Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society www.palgrave.com/journals