Freud the Man by Lydia Flem

Author:Lydia Flem [Flem, Lydia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Other Press
Published: 2020-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Freud is quite prepared to be critical of himself and is rarely satisfied with his own style. He has within him a hidden sense of form, an appreciation for beauty, a seeking after “perfection.”54

The question of case histories, in particular, preoccupies him greatly. He considers that he has not found an irreproachable and exemplary way of reconstructing them, but it seems important to him not to give up the attempt.55 During the Wednesday evening meetings, Freud sometimes gives advice to his disciples. Impelled by pedagogic duty, he suggests, for example, that Sadger present his work a bit more attractively.56 On another occasion, Freud emphasizes that unformulated case histories have not been fully thought through, concluding that a careful and yet artistic exposition, as in his presentation of the Dora case, is the only acceptable procedure.57

Freud constantly faces the problems inherent in writing about a knowledge of the invisible, accessible only through the zigzags, quantum leaps, oblique pathways, and winding passages of unconscious associations. He has to admit that linear exposition is not very appropriate for the descriptions of psychic processes, which are intertwined and unfold simultaneously in different psychic strata.58 Freud is not intimidated by doubts or obstacles: he describes himself as an explorer braving wild oceans or a chemist handling explosive materials. Attracted by novelty and uncertainty, he is not one of those “believers” who require scientific discourse to serve as a “catechism” for them.59 It is clear to him that “[i]n developing a new science, one has to make its theories vague. You cannot make things clear-cut. But when you write, the public demands that you make things definite, else they think that you do not know what you are saying.”60 Attentive to this adventurous aspect of his intellectual approach, Freud, like a mountain guide, warns his reader about pitfalls, preparing him to leap into the unknown, the uncertain: “If we have the courage to proceed in the same way, we shall be setting forth on a path which will lead us first to something unexpected and incomprehensible, but which will perhaps, by a devious route, bring us to a goal.”61

Since he likes to speak directly to his readers, Freud imagines that they fall into three temperamental categories: “the sceptical, the optimistic, and the ambitious.”62 He seeks to win the reader’s trust and win his conviction; guessing the problems that will arise in his mind and the nature of his criticism, he tries to reply point by point. He takes his resistances into account, as though he were one of his patients in analysis, and no doubt hopes to be read in turn with a certain associative freedom. Here, for example, are some of his remarks to the reader in his Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis: “You will protest with some annoyance…. I should reply: Patience, Ladies and Gentlemen! I think your criticism has gone astray…. That is what I should say in order to retain your interest….”63 “I should like to invite you to follow me along another track.

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