Affect, Representation and Language: Between the Silence and the Cry

181 Pages·2021·4.501 MB·

by  Howard B. Levine

“This book offers a clinical approach to non-neurotic phenomena and un-
represented mental states that emphasizes representation, not as a given
but as ‘a developmental achievement through which previously unbound
or inchoate forces become bound and contained in the psyche.”
—Evelyne Sechaud, former president of the European
Psychoanalytic Federation; former president, training and
supervising analyst of the APF (French Psychoanalytic
Association).
“Psychoanalysts need to resort to as many luminaries in their field as they
can, granted that no single author, no matter how great, can be credited
with possessing the final truth. But then another problem arises: the mul-
tiple analytic idioms represent a challenge of their own. Levine brilliantly
meets that challenge by displaying an exemplary capacity to navigate be-
tween many exponents of the British, French, North- and Latin-American
analytic traditions and offering a personal synthesis rich with original
ideas and clinical illustrations.”
—Dominique Scarfone, training and supervising
analyst, Canadian Psychoanalytic Society Institute,
Montreal French Branch.
“Since Freud, psychoanalysis has acutely explored the architecture, dy-
namics and texture of psychic life: the logic and logistics of the soul. How-
ard Levine is at the forefront of thinkers who are currently examining
these issues in a contemporary framework. He presents his reflections in
crystal clear prose and with all the exciting commitment and enthusiasm
of the best psychoanalytic thinkers at work today.”
—Elias M. da Rocha Barros, São Paulo Society and
fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society.

Affect, Representation
and Language
This book presents and elaborates on the rationale and implications of the
transformational dimension of psychoanalysis. In so doing, it attempts to
extend psychoanalytic theory and practice beyond neurosis and beyond
what were formerly thought to be the limits of analytic understanding.
Its theoretical vision sits at the crossroads of the thinking of Freud, Bion,
Winnicott, Green and the Paris Psycho-Somatic School. Other sources in-
clude the contributions of contemporary French psychoanalysts such as
Laplanche, Donnet, L. Kahn, P. Miller and the Botellas, along with the
work of Alvarez, Scarfone, Ferro, Ogden, and more.
In re-examining the very epistemological foundations of psychoanal-
ysis and their implications for a theory of psychic functioning, it follows
upon and extends the radical implications of Freud’s 1937 Constructions
paper, the thoughts of Bion on intuition and Winnicott’s understanding of
the working through of the consequences of early pre-verbal environmen-
tal failure. In so doing, it makes a case for psychoanalysis as a powerful
treatment for borderline, primitive narcissistic, post-traumatic and other
character disorders and conditions – including perversions, addictions,
psychosomatic, autistic and panic disorders.
By presenting a revised metapsychology that is Freudian, contempo-
rary and clinically near, Affect, Representation and Language. Between the
Silence and the Cry offers practitioners at all levels of analytic experience a
way of understanding and treating the expanding range of patients and
disorders that present for treatment in our modern era.
Howard B. Levine is a member of APSA, PINE, the Contemporary Freud-
ian Society, NYU Post-Doc’s Contemporary Freudian Track and in private
practice in Brookline, Massachusetts. He is the author of Transformations
de l’Irreprésentable, editor-in-chief of the Routledge W.R. Bion Studies book
series and a director and founding member of the Boston Group for Psy-
choanalytic Studies.
The International Psychoanalytical Association
Psychoanalytic Ideas and Applications Series
IPA Publications Committee
Gabriela Legorreta (Montreal), Chair and Series Editor; Dominique
Scarfone (Montreal); Catalina Bronstein (London); Lawrence Brown
(Boston); Michele Ain (Montevideo); Carlos Moguillanski (Buenos Aires);
Udo Hock (Berlin); Christine Kirchhoff (Berlin), Gennaro Saragnano
(Rome) Consultant; Rhoda Bawdekar (London), Ex-officio as IPA Publishing
Manager; Paul Crake (London), Ex-officio as IPA Executive Director
Permanent Disquiet
Psychoanalysis and the Transitional Subject
Michel de M’Uzan
Psychoanalytic Work with Families and Couples
Clinical Perspectives on Suffering
Susana Kuras Mauer, Sara Moscona, and Silvia Resnizky
Narcissistic Fantasies in Film and Fiction
Masters of the Universe
Ilany Kogan
Psychoanalytic Reflections on Writing, Cinema and the Arts
Facing Beauty and Loss
Paola Golinelli
Change Through Time in Psychoanalysis
Transformations and Interventions, The Three Level Model
Margaret Ann Fitzpatrick Hanly, Marina Altmann de Litvan,
Ricardo Bernardi
The Infantile in Psychoanalytic Practice Today
Florence Guignard
Affect, Representation and Language
Between the Silence and the Cry
Howard B. Levine
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com
Affect, Representation
and Language
Between the Silence and the Cry
Howard B. Levine
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Howard B. Levine
The right of Howard B. Levine to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Levine, Howard B., author.
Title: Affect, representation and language : between the silence
and the cry / Howard B. Levine.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York, NY : Routledge, 2022.
| Series: IPA psychoanalytic ideas and applications series |
Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary:
“This book extends psychoanalytic theory and practice
beyond neurosis to what formerly were the limits of analytic
understanding, presenting and elaborating on the rationale and
implications of the transformational dimension of psychoanalytic
practice. Offering readers a metapsychology that is both
contemporary and clinically near, Affect, Representation
and Language offering practitioners at all levels of analytic
experience a way of understanding and treating contemporary
patients”—Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021022510 (print) | LCCN 2021022511
(ebook) | ISBN 9780367774356 (hardback) | ISBN
9780367774318 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003171331 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Representation (Psychoanalysis) | Affect
(Psychology) | Psychoanalysis.
Classification: LCC BF175.5.R43 V37 2022 (print) | LCC
BF175.5.R43 (ebook) | DDC 150.19/5—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021022510
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021022511
ISBN: 978-0-367-77435-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-77431-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-17133-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003171331
Typeset in Palatino
by codeMantra
Language without affect is a dead language: and affect
without language is uncommunicable. Language is situated
between the cry and the silence.
Andre Green (1977, p. 205)

Contents
Series editor’s foreword xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Foreword - When something vital goes missing xvii
PATRICK MILLER
Introduction: Freud’s theory of psychic functioning
and its relevance to the analytic process 1
1 Psychoanalysis and subjectivity: a personal note 6
2 Freud’s theory of representation and the expansion of
analytic technique 19
3 Clinical implications of unrepresented states:
effacement, discourse and construction 36
4 The fundamental epistemological situation 49
5 Psychoanalysis and the problem of truth 63
6 The analyst’s authority: suggestion, seduction,
compliance and influence 77
7 Trauma, process and representation 91
8 Making the unthinkable thinkable: Autism, ASD and
representation 106