A Non-Oedipal Psychoanalysis?: A Clinical Anthropology of Hysteria in the Works of Freud and Lacan (Figures of the Unconscious)

The different psychopathologic syndromes show in an exaggerated and caricatural manner the basic structures of human existence. These structures not only characterize psychopathology, but they also determine the highest forms of culture. This is the credo of Freud's anthropology. This anthropology implies that humans are beings of the in-between. The human being is essentially tied up between pathology and culture, and there is no ‘normal position'that can be defined in a theoretically convincing manner. The authors of this book call this Freudian anthropology a patho-analysis of existence or a clinical anthropology. This anthropology gives a new meaning to the Nietzschean dictum that the human being is a ‘sick animal'. Freud, and later Lacan, first developed this anthropological insight in relation to hysteria (in its relation to literature). This patho-analytic perspective progressively disappears in Freud's texts after 1905. This book reveals the crucial moments of that development. In doing so, it becomes clear not only that Freud introduced the Oedipus complex much later than is usually assumed, but also that the theory of the Oedipus complex is irreconcilable with the project of a clinical anthropology. The authors not only examine the philosophical meaning of this thesis in the work of Freud. They also examine its avatars in the texts of Jacques Lacan and show how this project of a patho-analysis of existence inevitably obliges us to formulate a non-oedipal psychoanalytic anthropology. This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content). Acknowledgements 10 Introduction 11 A Clinical Anthropology of Hysteria 11 Hysteria as a Philosophical Problem 11 Chapter 1 25 Between Trauma and Disposition 25 The Specific Aetiology of Hysteria in Freud’s Early Works 25 Introduction: From Real Trauma to Oedipal Phantasy? 25 1. Trauma and Disposition in Studies on Hysteria 28 2. The Seduction Theory 33 3. After the Theory of Seduction 36 Conclusion 43 Chapter 2 45 Dora 45 Symptom, Trauma and Phantasy in Freud’s Analysis of Dora 45 Introduction 45 1. Two Traumas 45 2. The Meaning of Dora’s Symptoms 51 3. The Oedipal Legend in the Case of Dora 54 4. Bisexuality and its Consequences 57 Conclusion: Dora’s un-Oedipal Desires 58 Chapter 3 61 From Day-dream to Novel 61 On Hysterical Phantasy and Literary Fiction 61 Introduction: a Disposition towards Literature? 61 1. Hysterical Phantasying 63 2. The Novel and Hysteria 66 3. Sources of Pleasure – the Joke and Literature 68 Conclusion: The Novel as Sublimation of Hysteria 71 Chapter 4 73 The Indifference of a Healthy Lesbian 73 Bisexuality versus the Oedipus Complex 73 Introduction 73 1. From Bisexuality to the Oedipus Complex 74 2. From Oedipus Complex to Bisexuality 79 Conclusion 84 Chapter 5 87 Lacan’s Structuralist Rereading of Dora 87 Introduction 87 1. Structure versus Psychogenesis 88 2. The Female Oedipus Complex: Frustration and Gift 90 3. Lacan’s Reading of Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria (“Dora”) 92 4. Dora and the L-scheme 96 5. The Lesson of Lévi-Strauss 98 6. The Hysterical Desire for an Unfulfilled Desire: the Dream of the Beautiful Butcher’s Wife 100 7. Dora and the Dream of the Beautiful Butcher’s Wife 105 Conclusion 106 Chapter 6 109 Lacan and the Homosexual Young Woman: 109 between Pathology and Poetry? 109 Introduction 109 1. Dora versus the Homosexual Young Woman 110 2. A Lacanian Clinical Anthropology of Hysteria and Perversion? 112 Conclusion 117 Chapter 7 121 Beyond Oedipus? 121 Introduction 121 1. Freud reads Sophocles 123 2. A Psychoanalytical Origin Tale: Totem and Taboo 125 3. Freud’s Dream 126 4. Castration as the Truth of the Oedipus Complex 127 5. Oedipus as Incarnation of the Master 130 6. Dora and the Search for a Master 131 Conclusion 135 Chapter 8 137 Return to Freud? 137 Lacan’s Pathoanalysis of Hysteria 137 Introduction 137 1. The formulas of Sexuation 140 2. Hysteria and the Formulas of Sexuation 147 3. Courtly Love and the Jouissance of the Other 148 Conclusion 151 Conclusion 153 The Project of a Psychoanalytical Anthropology in Freud and Lacan 153 1. Freud and Hysteria 153 2. Hysteria and Literature 154 3. The Oedipal Trap 155 4. Development versus Structure 157 5. The Human as a Being of the In-between 158 6. The Hysterical Subject, its Master and Female Jouissance 160 7. Beyond Hysteria... 162 8. Freud versus Lacan: the Position of Science 164 References 167 Index 175 The different psychopathologic syndromes show in an exaggerated and caricatural manner the basic structures of human existence. These structures not only characterize psychopathology, but they also determine the highest forms of culture. This is the credo of Freud's anthropology. This anthropology implies that humans are beings of the in-between. The human being is essentially tied up between pathology and culture, and 'normativity' cannot be defined in a theoretically convincing manner. The authors of this book call this Freudian anthropology a patho-analysis of existence or a clinical anthropology. This anthropology gives a new meaning to the Nietzschean dictum that the human being is a 'sick animal'. Freud, and later Lacan, first developed this anthropological insight in relation to hysteria (in its relation to literature). This patho-analytic perspective progressively disappears in Freud's texts after 1905. This book reveals the crucial moments of that development. In doing so, it shows clearly not only that Freud introduced the Oedipus complex much later than is usually assumed, but also that the theory of the Oedipus complex is irreconcilable with the project of a clinical anthropology. The authors not only examine the philosophical meaning of this thesis in the work of Freud. They also examine its avatars in the texts of Jacques Lacan and show how this project of a patho-analysis of existence inevitably obliges us to formulate a non-oedipal psychoanalytic anthropology. Bron: Flaptekst, uitgeversinformatie The different psychopathologic syndromes show in an exaggerated and caricatural manner the basic structures of human existence. These structures not only characterize psychopathology, but they also determine the highest forms of culture. This is the credo of Freud's anthropology. This anthropology implies that humans are beings of the in-between. The human being is essentially tied up between pathology and culture, and there is no 'normal position' that can be defined in a theoretically convincing manner. The authors of this book call this Freudian anthropology a patho-analysis of existence or a clinical anthropology. This anthropology gives a new meaning to the Nietzschean dictum that the human being is a 'sick animal'. Freud, and later Lacan, first developed this anthropological insight in relation to hysteria (in its relation to literature). This patho-analytic perspective progressively disappears in Freud's texts after 1905. This book reveals the crucial moments of that development Content: A clinical anthropology of hysteria : hysteria as a philosophical problem -- Between trauma and disposition : the specific aetiology of hysteria in Freud's early works -- Dora : symptom, trauma and phantasy in Freud's analysis of Dora -- From day-dream to novel : on hysterical phantasy and literary fiction -- The indifference of a healthy lesbian : bisexuality versus the Oedipus complex -- Lacan's structuralist rereading of Dora -- Lacan and the homosexual young woman : between pathology and poetry? -- Beyond Oedipus? -- Return to Freud? : Lacan's pathoanalysis of hysteria -- The project of a psychoanalytical anthropology in Freud and Lacan.