Freud in Bulgaria: Psychoanalysis, Literature, Translation: An Experience with the Singular.

This contribution considers a monthly seminar, Literature and Psychoanalysis, that has been taking place at Sofia University (Sofia, Bulgaria) since 2017. Three of the seminar's founders reflect on the transferences between literature and psychoanalysis, and on the ways in which literature and psychoanalysis can meaningfully converse. The exchange also touches on the fate of Freud's textual legacy in communist and post-communist Bulgaria.

Wondering and Wandering: In Defense of Free Association and the Fundamental Rule.

"Free association" and the "fundamental rule" are bedrock for psychoanalytic therapy and apply to what both patient and analyst should experience in the process. The article traces Sigmund Freud's revolutionary recognition of the importance of free association that began with his tribute to the works of Ludwig Börne and Friedrich Schiller. The author invokes other proposals akin to free association made by artists and scientists, including John Keats, Charles Dickens, Robert Frost, Thomas S. Kuhn, Arthur Koestler, and Albert Einstein. While emphasizing the importance and the liberatory potential of free association as it relates to effective treatment and discovery, the author contends that there is a "moral press" for both the patient and the analyst to permit free associative thoughts, particularly to question assumptions about how things are supposed to be.

A machine of the same: Repetition in the foundational discourse of the Argentinean "being" (1976-1983).

Using the example of the military regime in Argentina (1976-1983) and relevant archival materials, this article demonstrates the prerequisite of exalted language in constructing an enemy and how a discursive 'machine of the same' was put into operation. The author argues that what made this operation unique is its structure of repetition that stimulated "the tendency to merge" what is "foreigner-to-the-ego", and the "enemy outside" into a single concept in the Argentinian national psyche.As a theoretical lens, the author examines the military regime's language through Freud's understanding of groups and civilization and Laplanche's proposition that cultural narratives in the form of mytho-symbolic explanations help us translate the sexual drive and offer a "solution" to the helplessness of the infant-adult.The author further claims that at other times a cultural narration functions as an anti-translation device when set against the emergence of a new net of significations. The nation's founding narrative of an Occidental-Spanish-Catholic "being" that first effaced its indigenous origins and then its Arabic and Jewish inheritance was brought back by the military regime as a mytho-symbolic narration that formed a shield against the repressed remnants of the enigmatic message pressing for a new translation.

Psychoanalysis and politics.

Psychoanalysis and Politics argue that psychoanalysis is at its root a social or group theory, to which a theory of individual psychology is integral. This formulation follows from Freud's Group Psychology, which defines individual psychology as a derivative of group psychology, "still incomplete." The article historicizes the analytic conception of the individual in terms of the authors' conception of personalize, spelled out in Secrets of the Soul. Three versions of psychoanalytic social theory are discussed: Freudo-Marxism, the New Left and feminism and the "relational turn."

"Mourning and Melancholia" Meets The Babadook: Emptiness and its Relation to Absence.

This paper explores how the film The Babadook illuminates psychoanalytic understandings of melancholia and mourning. The author attempts to unwind the complicated character of melancholia, using Freud as an initial point of orientation, then relying on a few ideas from Klein and later writers. The paper attempts to refine our understanding of the difference between absence and emptiness, especially the difference between being captured in the nothing or deadness of melancholic emptiness, on the one hand, and being alive enough to suffer the absence of a lost object, which bears a potential for mourning, on the other. The possibility of psychic tension between these states is explored. Some implications of the relationship between absence and emptiness for the mourning process are considered. The author uses the film as a resource throughout.

Darwin vai ao divã: Uma revisão sistemática de literatura em publicações brasileiras / Darwin goes to the couch: A systematic literature review in brazilian publications

Este artigo objetiva identificar, contextualizar e analisar evidências e impacto do evolucionismo darwiniano na obra de Sigmund Freud, na literatura especializada nacional nas últimas duas décadas. Uma revisão sistemática da literatura foi empreendida, em conformidade com as orientações metodológicas PRISMA, valendo-se, para tanto, de palavras-chave selecionadas, posteriormente empregadas na pesquisa conduzida em sete base de dados distintas. Após seleção, chegou-se a uma amostra final composta por dezesseis artigos de relevância. De acordo com os resultados, evidencia-se: evolucionismo darwiniano como um recurso na escrita da obra freudiana; utilização da história evolutiva ou história filogenética como justificativa das elaborações de Freud; teoria darwiniana como meio para compreensão da origem de sintomas e estados psíquicos; uso da figura representativa de Darwin.

This paper aims to identify, contextualize, and analyze the evidence and impact of Darwinian evolutionism in the work of Sigmund Freud, in the national specialized literature in the last of two decades. A systematic review of the literature was carried out, in accordance to the PRISMA methodological guidelines, using selected keywords, which were later used in the research conducted in seven different databases. After selection, a final sample was made up of sixteen articles of relevance. According to the results, it is evidenced: Darwinian evolutionism as a resource in the writing of Freud's work; use of the evolutionary history or phylogenetic history as justification for Freud's elaborations; Darwinian theory as a means for understanding the origin of symptoms and psychic states; use of the representative figure of Darwin.

Freud's interpretation in "Medusa's Head" and some alternative psychoanalytic implications of Ovid's Medusa.

Freud's very brief 1922 paper on the beheading of Medusa by Perseus wisely concludes with a call for a further examination of the sources of the legend. A now widespread interpretation of this legend is based (often without acknowledgement) on an addition to traditions concerning Medusa made in Ovid's Metamorphoses. It is argued here that this Ovidian innovation has often been misinterpreted, and that a more careful reading of Metamorphoses supports neither a widely alleged exclusively vengeful portrayal of Medusa, nor Freud's portrayal of Medusa's decapitation as solely a pitiable and terrible symbol of castration. Instead, Ovid's complex treatments of myths involving Medusa, Minerva and Perseus present parallels with Kleinian insights into phantasy attacks on fecundity, and into imagined revivals of dead or damaged inside babies. Thus the "displacement upwards" of the fearful castrated maternal genital envisioned in Freud's "Medusa's Head" must stand beside a quite different "displacement upwards" of the life-giving maternal genital. Indeed, tradition holds that Medusa's beheading gives rise to the birth of vigorous twins. Together with allied details, this aligns Ovid's masterwork with theories that modify or displace the so-called "sexual phallic monism" that some believe taints Freud's theories of gender development.

Unterdrückung e Verdrängung no final da obra de Freud / Unterdrückung and Verdrängung at the end of Freud's work / Unterdrückung y Verdrängung al final de la obra de Freud

O presente estudo visa avaliar, a partir da leitura integral de alguns dos escritos tardios da obra freudiana, as relações entre os termos Verdrängunge Unterdrückung. Nesse sentido, ele dá sequência a um percurso investigativo que focalizou o período inicial da obra freudiana, no qual concluiu-se serem frágeis os argumentos favoráveis a uma diferenciação categórica entre os dois termos na obra de Freud­o que poderia impactar no debate em torno das recentes traduções da mesma. (cf. Maireno, 2023) Ao final do presente trabalho, conclui-se que a posição defendida no trabalho anterior permanece válida, apesar de algumas linhas argumentativas ­curiosamente pouco exploradas pelos comentadores ­serem potencialmente fortes para perturbá-la. (AU).

The present study aims to evaluate, based on acomplete reading of some Freud's last writings, the relationships between the terms Verdrängungand Unterdrückung. So, it continues an investigationthat at the beginning focused on the initial period of Freud's work, in which it was concluded that the arguments in favor of a radicaldifferentiation between both terms in Freud's work are fragile -which could impact the debate around itsrecent translations. (cf. Maireno, 2023) At the end of this work, it is concluded that the position defended in the previous work remains valid, despite some arguments­curiously little explored by commentators ­being potentially strong enough to disturb it (AU).

El presente estudio tiene como objetivo evaluar, a partir de una lectura completa de algunos de los últimos escritos de Freud, las relaciones entre los términos Verdrängungy Unterdrückung. Continuamos así un camino que se centró en el período inicial de la obra de Freud, en el que se concluyó que los argumentos a favor de una diferenciación radical entre ambos términos en la obra de Freud son débiles -lo que podría impactar el debate en torno a sus traducciones recientes. (cf. Maireno, 2023) Al final de este trabajo, se concluye que la posición defendida en el trabajo anterior sigue válida, a pesar de que algunos argumentos ­curiosamente poco explorados por los comentaristas ­son lo suficientemente fuertes como para perturbar esto (AU).

The outsider phenomenon and the need to belong.

The outsider phenomenon is an existential pathology interrelated with the need to belong. It is a group related experience that has developmental foundations. W. R. D. Fairbairn (1952), was one of the first psychoanalysts who systematically challenged Freudian theory, and located the human experience within social relationships. Fairbairn (1935) suggested that the family is the first social group, leading to affiliations with important groups external to the family. This paper extrapolates from Fairbairn's ideas about schizoid character, which is an interpersonal experience, to group experiences in a family and with identity groups. Fairbairn's notions about the unavoidable activation of schizoid processes may help us understand what makes the outsider experience so pervasive.

Jung's Erotic Phenomenology: I. A New Translation.

In the introduction to The Psychology of the Transference (1946), Carl Jung sketched out a theory of "erotic phenomenology" which condenses his teaching about sexuality and romantic love into a very concise summary. But the meaning of this passage is obscured in the English translation given in the Collected Works of C. G. Jung. I propose here a new translation which makes Jung's meaning clearer, along with a commentary which explains it in the context of Freudian drive theory and German 19th century philosophy. Invoking the concepts of instinct, mind, and Eros (both the passion and the divine figure), Jung's theory says that male sexual desire can be cultivated or repressed in four distinct ways, each associated with a female symbolic figure or anima image: Eve, Helen, Mary and Sophia.

Dans son introduction à La Psychologie du Transfert (1946), Carl Jung esquisse une « phénoménologie érotique ¼ qui condense ses enseignements sur la sexualité et le désir en un résumé très concis. Mais le sens de ce passage est brouillé dans la traduction anglaise des Collected Works of C.G. Jung. Je propose ici une nouvelle traduction qui rend l'argument de Jung plus clair, suivie d'un commentaire qui l'explique dans le contexte de la théorie freudienne des pulsions et de la philosophie allemande du XIXe siècle. Invoquant les concepts d'instinct, d'esprit et d'Eros (en tant que passion ainsi que figure divine), la théorie de Jung dit que le désir sexuel masculin peut être cultivé ou réprimé de quatre manières distinctes, chacune associée à une figure symbolique féminine ou image de l'anima: Eve, Hélène, Marie et Sophia.

En la introducción a La Psicología de la Transferencia (1946), Carl Jung esbozó una "fenomenología erótica" que condensa sus enseñanzas sobre la sexualidad y el amor romántico en un resumen muy conciso. Pero el significado de este pasaje queda opacado en la traducción inglesa de las Obras Completas de C.G. Jung. Propongo aquí una nueva traducción que aclara el significado de Jung, junto con un comentario que lo explica en el contexto de la teoría freudiana de la pulsión y la filosofía alemana del siglo XIX. Invocando los conceptos de instinto, mente y Eros (tanto la pasión como la figura divina), la teoría de Jung expresa que el deseo sexual masculino puede cultivarse o reprimirse de cuatro maneras distintas, cada una asociada a una figura simbólica femenina o imagen del ánima: Eva, Helena, María y Sofía.

Engaging with the unknown: How Judaism enabled Freud's psychological discoveries.

A large literature has formed around the question of how Freud's Jewishness and/or Judaism influenced his psychological discoveries and development of psychoanalytic theory and methods. The article organizes the literature into several core theses but brings new clarity and insight by applying two essential criteria to demonstrate an impact of Judaism on Freud's thinking: direct content and historical timing. First, there should be evidence that Freud incorporated actual content from Jewish sources, and second, this incorporation must have occurred during the most crucial period of Freud's early discovery, conceptualization, and development of psychoanalysis, roughly 1893-1910. Thus, for example, Bakan's well-known theory that Freud studied Kabbala is completely negated by the absence of any evidence in the required time period. Part I reviews the literature on the influence of Freud's ethnic/cultural Jewish identity. Part II introduces the Judaic sacred literature, explores Freud's education in Judaism and Hebrew, and presents evidence that Freud had the motive, means, and resources to discover and draw from the "Dream Segment" of the Talmud-along with the traditional Judaic methods and techniques of textual exegesis. Freud then applied these same Judaic word-centered interpretive methods-used for revealing an invisible God-to revealing an invisible Unconscious in four successive books in 1900, 1901, and 1905.

O desamparo em Freud e a política como ruptura dos possíveis / Helplessness in Freud and politics as a rupture of the possible / Le délaissé chez Freud et la politique comme rupture du possible / Lo desamparo en Freud y la política como ruptura de lo posible

Este trabalho visa delinear o conceito de desamparo por meio da metapsicologia freudiana e como isso implica outra forma de pensar a política. Desse modo, o desamparo não é concebido unicamente como a vulnerabilidade do bebê ao nascer, mas, também, como a falta de respostas às excitações internas. Tal estado de desamparo é radicalizado a partir da concepção de pulsão de morte construída por Freud. A pulsão de morte gera processos de desabamentos, rupturas, desligamentos e despossessão, essenciais para a própria vida se complexificar. Nesse sentido, propomos o desamparo como afeto político central quando pensamos em transformação. A partir do desabamento de si e da abertura radical ao contato do outro, podemos experimentar outras formas de experiências, outras formas de afetação e, consequentemente, a construção de corpos políticos rumo à transformação política radical

This paper outlines the concept of helplessness through Freudian metapsychology and by doing so imply a new way of thinking about politics. Helplessness is not conceived simply as the newborn's vulnerability, but also as the lack of response to internal excitements. Such an estate is radicalized by Freud's concept of death drive, which generates processes of collapsing, ruptures, unplugging and dispossession that are essential for turning life complex. In this sense, we propose helplessness as a main political affection when referring to transformation. By the collapse of oneself and the radical opening to contact with others, one may experience other ways of experiencing and of being affected and, consequently, the construction of political bodies leading to the radical transformation of politics

Cet article présente le concept de délaissé à travers la métapsychologie freudienne et, ce faisant, lui imprime une nouvelle façon de penser la politique. Le délaissé n'est pas simplement conçu comme la vulnérabilité du nouveau-né, mais aussi comme une absence de réponse aux excitations internes. Tel état est radicalisé par le concept de pulsion de mort de Freud, qui produit des processus de glissement, de rupture, d'arrêt et de dépossession essentielles à la complexification de la vie. En ce sens, nous proposons le délaissé comme principale affection politique lorsqu'il est question de transformation. Par le glissement de soi-même et l'ouverture radicale au contact avec les autres, nous pouvons expérimenter d'autres façons de vivre et d'être affecté et, par conséquent, la construction de corps politiques vers à la transformation politique radicale

Este artículo pretende esbozar el concepto de desamparo a través de la metapsicología freudiana y cómo esto implica otra forma de pensar sobre política. De esa manera, la impotencia no solo se concibe como la vulnerabilidad del bebé al nacer, sino también debido a la falta de respuestas a las excitaciones internas. Tal estado de desamparo se radicaliza desde la concepción del impulso de muerte construido por Freud. El impulso de la muerte genera procesos de colapsos, rupturas, desconexiones y desposesión esenciales para que la vida misma se vuelva más compleja. En este sentido, proponemos lo desamparo como un afecto político central cuando pensemos en la transformación. Desde el colapso de uno mismo y la apertura radical al contacto con el otro, podemos experimentar otras formas de experiencias y otras formas de afectación y,en consecuencia, la construcción de cuerpos políticos hacia una transformación política radical

Psychoanalytic Contributions to Psychodynamic Psychiatry: Freud's Anxiety Theory.

In many academic centers a generation of psychiatrists has undergone training with little or no exposure to Freud's contributions to our profession. Our profession is diminished if we ignore Freud's remarkable insights into the human psyche. Not only does Freud give us a comprehensive theory of human nature-of our mental life and its psychopathology-his concepts are foundational to dynamic psychiatry and its psychotherapeutic application. This article describes one of his core concepts: Freud's theory of anxiety.

Pulsão de Morte e Sublimação: A (Re)invenção da Vida nas Dobras da Racionalidade Técnico-Científica / Death Drive and Sublimation: The (Re)invention of Life in the Folds of Technical-Scientific Rationality / Pulsión de Muerte y Sublimación: (Re)invención de la Vida en las Doblas de la Técnica

O advento das biotecnologias no mundo contemporâneo, em particular das Novas Tecnologias Reprodutivas (NTR's), liberando a sexualidade dos antigos imperativos da procriação, nos oferece uma prova contundente da abertura ilimitada da vida à transformação das condições em que as normas vitais engajam os organismos no processo de individuação. Mais do que isso, evidencia o caráter essencialmente contingente da ligação entre vida, morte e sexualidade. O objetivo deste trabalho é examinar a fecundidade da concepção freudiana de sublimação - lida sob o registro das transformações que a ela se impõem com o advento do conceito de pulsão de morte (1920) - em subsidiar uma reflexão ética e política acerca dos efeitos da incidência das Novas Tecnologias Reprodutivas (NTR's) nos campos da reprodução, da sexualidade e do laço social. Nossa hipótese é a de que o fenômeno das biotecnologias desvela, sob a cobertura do temor, tão frequentemente evocado por alguns de nossos contemporâneos, de dilapidação das instituições e dos modos de vida sobre os quais acreditávamos poder fundar nossa fantasmática "humanidade", a infinita potência da vida em recriar-se diante d'isso que quer destruí-la.

The advent of biotechnologies in the contemporary world, particularly New Reproductive Technologies (NTRs), freeing sexuality from the old imperatives of procreation, offers us overwhelming proof of the unlimited opening up of life to the transformation of conditions in which vital norms engage the organisms in the individuation process. Even more so, it highlights the essentially contingent character of the connection between life, death, and sexuality. The aim of this study is, therefore, to examine the fruitfulness of the Freudian conception of sublimation, read under the register of the transformations imposed upon this notion with the advent of the death drive concept (1920), in subsidizing an ethical and political reflection on the effects of the incidence of NTRs in the reproduction, sexuality and social bond fields. Our hypothesis is that the biotechnologies phenomenon reveals, under the cover of fear, so often evoked by some of our contemporaries, of institutional dilapidation and ways of life in which we believed we could establish our fantastic "humanity", the infinite life's power to recreate itself in the face of that which wants to destroy it.

La llegada de las biotecnologías en el mundo contemporáneo, en particular de las Nuevas Tecnologías Reproductivas (NTR's), liberando la sexualidad de los imperativos de la procreación, nos ofrece una prueba contundente de la abertura ilimitada de la vida a la transformación de las condiciones en que las normas vitales capacitan el organismo a la individuación. Más allá de eso, se evidencia el carácter esencialmente contingente de la ligación entre vida, muerte y sexualidad. El objetivo de este estudio es examinar la fecundidad de la concepción freudiana de sublimación - leída bajo el registro de las transformaciones que a ella se imponen con la llegada del concepto de pulsión de muerte (1920) - en subsidiar una reflexión ética y política acerca de los efectos de la incidencia de las Nuevas Tecnologías Reproductivas (NTR's) en los campos de la reproducción, de la sexualidad y del lazo social. Nuestra hipótesis es que el fenómeno de las biotecnologías desvela, bajo la cobertura del temor, tan frecuentemente evocado por algunos de nuestros contemporáneos, de dilapidación de las instituciones y de los modos de vida sobre los cuales creíamos poder fundar nuestra fantasmática "humanidad", la infinita potencia de la vida en recrearse de ante d'eso que quiere destruirla.

It's About Time: Loewald, Lacan, and AprÈs-Coup in America.

Martin Heidegger's thought deeply influenced both Hans Loewald and Jacques Lacan, the catalyst they seemed to have been waiting for. For Loewald, Heidegger's ontological centrality of time to Being-in-the-World would bridge to Freud's centrality of transference to the analytic process, thereby operationalizing transference as a prism of time. In revealing the interwoven correlatives of present-past-future, how they bootstrap one another phenomenologically, Loewald also revealed a spiral of recursive meaning (in essence, après-coup) that draws us into the future, "the something more" of existence. In parallel, through his recognition of the power of après-coup, Lacan rescued from obscurity Freud's profound conception of Nachträglichkeit, or the spiral and causal force of unfolding meaning. Lacan was now situated to bring après-coupin conjunction with Heidegger's Being-in-the-World, with time interwoven into all aspects of existence, thereby underpinning, too, language and the Symbolic Order. By reading Freud through Heidegger and then creating their brilliant syntheses, Loewald and Lacan, through their striking sameness and differences, illuminate the nature of the unconscious, of memory and meaning, of the spiral of time, and of existence itself.

On looking into The Ego and the Id 100 years after its publication.

Freud's publication of The Ego and the Id sparked a diverging set of psychoanalytic models - ego psychology, structural conflict theory, Kleinianism, object relations theories, Lacanianism, etc. - each of which attempted to deal with the clinical limitations of his first topography in regard to unconscious guilt, negative therapeutic reactions and primitive character organizations. This paper attempts to look back on these developments from the perspective of contemporary, post-Freudian psychoanalytic theories.

"The Ego and the Id": How and why Freud transformed his model of the mind.

This paper argues that, despite its title, "The Ego and the Id" can be seen as the book of the superego, and although it is a metapsychological work, Freud's introduction of the new conceptual tools provided by the structural model was a response to the clinical problems he faced. The implications of Freud's introduction of the superego for the analytic relationship are discussed, with an attempt to deepen our understanding of what he had in mind by reading "Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego" alongside "The Ego and the Id". Finally, the paper draws on Bion to consider the implications of this remodelling of the analytic scene for listening and interpretation.

The Ego and the Id: Concepts and developments.

In this note I have limited myself to describing some convergent and divergent developments arising from the innovative concepts present in The Ego and the Id. It could be argued that a part of the psychoanalytic movement wished to emphasize the function of the Ego (Anna Freud, Hartmann, Rapaport), while another part (Melanie Klein and her followers) delved into the dynamics of the Superego and the Id in primitive and pathological states of mind. I will examine three themes presents in The Ego and the Id: the assertion that a part of the Ego is unconscious; the idea that the death drive becomes part of the dynamics of melancholia and its Superego; the concept of fusion and defusion of the life and death instinct. Freud's writing represents a forge of new ideas that have made psychoanalysis ever more creative and capable of understanding the complexity and mysteriousness of the human mind.

Desexualization: An interesting problem in The Ego and the Id.

The sudden appearance of the term "desexualization" in The Ego and the Id is considered as a marker of the subtle, almost unnoticeable changes that occurred in Freud's thinking after 1920. The strict dichotomy between life and death drives posed a series of new problems that force Freud to invoke a "desexualized libido" in order to restore some fluidity in the psychic apparatus. But the mechanism of desexualization was difficult to describe and Freud seems to resort to a circular explanation. In the end, the restored dialectics between Eros and the death drive, thanks to desexualization, force Freud to invoke a split in the ego itself.

Effi Briest: The Uncanny, sexuality, and trauma.

Here the author draws on Theodor Fontane's 1895 novel Effi Briest to consider the links between Freud's paper "The Uncanny" and his elaboration of the trauma of sexuality and the après-coup. Conceptualizing trauma in contemporary clinical theory inevitably draws on the theory of the après-coup: the blow that is inflicted on the psyche when the impact of the early event is retranscribed at a later date. The author considers the trauma that Effi experiences, not the catastrophic trauma of death or assault but the deceptive trauma, is disguised as an unparalleled opportunity for Effi. Her story highlights the trauma of sexuality and the incestuous Oedipal dimension. In the cruel economy of incestuous exchange across the generations Effi, in what she experiences as dreary incarceration, is left isolated with her libidinal yearnings. Arguing that Effi as a seventeen-year-old girl is drawn into the incestuous world of her parents and the mother's suitor Innstetten, the author describes how the trauma involving the denial of her sexuality leads to her being ostracized and facing psychic death. Captured in the deferred maternal desire, Effi unknowingly becomes part of a system of incestuous exchange. This is a trauma that is only known in the après-coup.