Sabina Spielrein : The Woman and the Myth

Gold Winner for Psychology, 2017 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards Long stigmatized as Carl Jung's hysterical mistress, Sabina Spielrein (1885–1942) was in fact a key figure in the history of psychoanalytic thought. Born into a Russian Jewish family, she was institutionalized at nineteen in Zurich and became Jung's patient. Spielrein went on to earn a doctorate in psychiatry, practiced for over thirty years, and published numerous papers, until her untimely death in the Holocaust. She developed innovative theories of female sexuality, child development, mythic archetypes in the human unconscious, and the death instinct. In Sabina Spielrein , Angela M. Sells examines Spielrein's life and work from a feminist and mytho-poetic perspective. Drawing on newly translated diaries, papers, and correspondence with Jung and Sigmund Freud, Sells challenges the suppression of Spielrein's ideas and shows her to be a significant thinker in her own right. Contents List of Images Introduction Sabina Spielrein and Current Controversy My Own Sabina Spielrein Story Brief Definition of Terms Chapter Overview Chapter 1. Sabina Spielrein: A Life and Legacy Explored Sabina Spielrein in Scholarship and the Construction of a Narrative The Loss of Spielrein’s Beloved Sister Sabina Spielrein’s Unfortunate Reintroduction to the Academy Sabina Spielrein as “Seductress” Sabina Spielrein as a Scholar Sabina Spielrein’s Marriage Sabina Spielrein’s Return to a “New World” in Russia Sabina Spielrein’s Death as “Destiny” Chapter 2. Trauma, Transference, and Suppression: Sabina Spielrein and the Myth of Echo (and Narcissus) Introduction Part I: Echo and Narcissus A Note on Translation Why Myth? The Myth: A Summary of “Echo and Narcissus” Echo and Abuse Part II: The Connection Between Sabina Spielrein and Suppression Sabina Spielrein: Adolescence and Institutionalization Analysis and “Affair” Transference Chapter 3. An Affair Misremembered: Sabina Spielrein and the So-Called Love Cure Introduction Recollection through Letters Lover, Beloved, Analyst, Father, Confusion Lasting Effects of the “Love Cure” Chapter 4. Writing as a Way of Coming into Being (Sabina Spielrein’s Diaries) Introduction Defining “Women’s Writing” Creating a Self with Words Sabina Spielrein’s Diaries A New Direction Spotlight: Siegfried Love and Death To End Is to Begin Chapter 5. Sabina Spielrein in Academia: Destruction and Transformation Introduction Development of the “Death Instinct” The “Death Instinct” in Her Dissertation Reception at the VPS Destruction as the Cause of Coming into Being Freud’s “Death Instinct” Sabina Spielrein and the Debate of Influence Chapter 6. Sabina Spielrein’s Correspondence and Traps of the “Feminine” Introduction Sabina Spielrein’s Letters Defecting “Othering” Little Girl Jewess Hysteric Anima Chapter 7. Sabina Spielrein: Coming into Being Introduction Confronting “Female” Sexuality Emerging Child Psychologist Sins of the Mother On the Development of Speech Return to the USSR: The “New Woman” and War Afterword Modern Representation A Voice in the Distance Appendix A: Timeline for Sabina Spielrein as Reflected in Sabina Spielrein: The Woman and the Myth with Select Bibliography Appendix B: Contributions to the Knowledge of a Child’s Soul 1. Analysis of a Girl 2. Analysis of a Boy 3. Analysis of a Boy Final Conclusions The Symbolic Meaning of Clocks Notes Appendix C: Sabina Spielrein in Image and on the Page Appendix D: Images of Myths Mentioned Notes Bibliography Copyright Acknowledgments Index Explores the life and work of psychoanalyst Sabina Spielrein through a feminist and mytho-poetic lens.Long stigmatized as Carl Jungs hysterical mistress, Sabina Spielrein (18851942) was in fact a key figure in the history of psychoanalytic thought. Born into a Russian Jewish family, she was institutionalized at nineteen in Zurich and became Jungs patient. Spielrein went on to earn a doctorate in psychiatry, practiced for over thirty years, and published numerous papers, until her untimely death in the Holocaust. She developed innovative theories of female sexuality, child development, mythic archetypes in the human unconscious, and the death instinct. In Sabina Spielrein , Angela M. Sells examines Spielreins life and work from a feminist and mytho-poetic perspective. Drawing on newly translated diaries, papers, and correspondence with Jung and Sigmund Freud, Sells challenges the suppression of Spielreins ideas and shows her to be a significant thinker in her own right.