The Work of the Negative

333 Pages·1999·33.406 MB·English

by  Andre Green, Andrew Weller (transl.)

The Work of the Negative
Andre Green
Translated byAndrew Weller
FREEASSOCIATIONBOOKS/ LONDON / NEW YORK
Publishedin 1999by
FREEASSOCIATION BOOKS
57 WarrenStreet
London WIPSPA
© 1999LesEditionsde Minuit
Translation© 1999AndrewWeller
TherightofAndreGreen
tobe identifiedastheauthorof thisworkhas
been assertedby himin accordancewiththe
Copyright, Designsand PatentsAct 1988.
ACIP cataloguerecord for thisbookisavailable
from theBritishLibrary.
ISBN185343 470 1pbk; 185343 460 4hbk
Designedandproducedfor thepublisherby
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Contents
Translator's Note vi
Translator's Acknowledgements x
Author'sAcknowledgements xi
Introduction byOttoF.Kembetg xiii
An Introduction to the Negative in Psychoanalysis 1
1 Aspects of the Negative: Semantic, Linguistic and Psychic 14
2 Hegel and Freud: Elements for an Improbable Comparison 26
3 Traces of the Negative in Freud'sWork 50
4 The Death Drive, Negative Narcissism and the Disobjectalising
Function 81
5 Masochism(s) and Narcissism in Analytic Failuresand the
NegativeTherapeutic Reaction 89
6 Splitting: from Disavowal to Disengagementin BorderlineCases 116
7 '[he Work of the Negativeand HallucinatoryActivity (Negative
Hallucination) 161
8 Sublimation: Considered First as aVicissitude of the Sexual Drive
andThen as Beingin theServiceof the Death Drive 215
On the Edge 257
Appendices 269
1 TheWorkoftheNegative(1986) 269
2 NegativeHallucination it977) 274
3 SeminarontheWorkoftheNegative (1988) 279
4 PrimaryAnality(1993) 284
Notes 292
ReferencesofPublication 306
Index 307
Translator's Note
It was agreatprivilege, ayearago, to be askedto translateLetravaildu Negatif
intoEnglish.IhadalreadyreadwithinterestAndreGreen'sOnPrivateMadness.
Boththesetitlesattractedme. It isdifficulttoimaginehowanyonecouldtake
on the taskof translatinga typescriptof approximately400 pages, renowned
for its difficulty, iftherewas notsomepersonalengagementinvolved. Itistrue
that there is a real sense in which I can say that my subject has found me! I
have longbeen interestedin Keat's idea of 'negativecapability'- which, inci
dentally,isthetitleofanarticlebyAndreGreenreviewingBien'sbookAttention
andInterpretation1- and myChristianupbringing, childhoodexperiencesand
laterstudiesin theologyresultedinaconsiderablestrugglewithwhatIwould
call the shadow side of things or negativity in both its creative and destruc
tive aspects. Further, the creative struggle involved in this translation
undoubtedly helped me copewith the loss of my much-loved father just as I
was beginningthis task.
This book is very demanding on the reader and it is likely that many will
takeencouragement,asIdid, from theauthor'sownacknowledgementat one
pointthat 'all thisis not easytounderstand'! Ihave often felt Iwasclimbing
amountainwithlimitedoxygen supply.Attimesin fineweather, at othersin
thickfog, andalwayswiththesensethattherewas yetanotherridgetoclimb.
But once on top and able to cast my eye over the scene below, Ihave begun
togetabettersenseof thelie oftheland, evenifIamstillunabletomakeout
all the details of the landscape. Perhaps, as is sometimes the case in analysis
itself, deeperunderstandingwill come afterthe event. But in spite of the dif
ficulties, or perhaps because of them, this has been an extremely rewarding
year. An additional pleasure was the discovery of Stefan Zweig's novella and
Gerard de Nerval'swritinginthe chapteron sublimation.
In translating LeTravaildu Negatifone is necessarily confronted with the
influence of three languages, three philosophicaltraditions, German, French
andEnglishwhichall have,asitisknown,averydifferentspirit.Theterm'the
workof thenegative'was borrowedfromHegel, evenifthewayit isemployed
in psychoanalysis has little relation to Hegel's philosophy. But his thinking,
along with others such as Kant, Husserl, Nietzsche and Heidegger forms a
backdrop to Andre Green's argument in the early chapters, presenting the
reader with a heady task from the outset! Then, of course} there is Freud's
German and Lacan's re-interpretation of Freud's work to take into account.
Frenchpsychoanalysishasa stronginclinationfor philosophyandlinguistics
andmanyanalystsin Francecometopsychoanalysisfromphilosophy.Itisoften
vi
Translator'sNote vii
observed that French discourse ismarkedby atastefor abstraction and intel
lectualism. The English tradition, on the other hand- perhaps more wary of
abstractionandintellectualism- isseen bysomeasmoreempirical,pragmatic,
concernedwith the facts ofexperienceand 'theoriesare the human stammer
towards grasping those facts'.2Such philosophical differences reflect the dif
ferences of language itselfand as Andre Green says, French lends itselfmore
thanotherlanguagesto aconceptualtreatmentoftheconceptofthenegative.
Mysense isthat it might be helpful to try and set the scene for the reader
by making some general introductory remarks on the negative. These are
simply some key ideas, brought together into asort of collage, which Ihave
gleaned from reading the book and speaking with the author; they are
developed fully in the text. First aword on etymology. Latin: negativus, from
negate=to say No, to negateaproposition. Hegel was thethinkerparexcellence
in the nineteenth centuryof the negative and negativity. For him negativity
was an essential propertyof consciousness, of thinking: 'the moment in the
process of development in which positive determinations are suppressed
representsareallycreative"work".Itdestroys, maintainsandpreservesin one
and thesamemovement.Thepositivemomentandthe negativemomentare
thetwo sides of Hegelian dialectics.'! Negativity in Hegel isthus 'theactivity
ofnegation'enrichingitselffrom thetermitnegates.Astheauthorhas pointed
out, Hegel's idea was not stillborn and is echoed, for example, by Sartres
statementthat 'laconscienceestcequ'elien'estpas':"
Thefirst act of negation in psychoanalysiswas thediscoveryof theuncon
scious and a latent structuring organisation. In this book the term 'the work
of the negative' covers all the psychical operationsof which repression isthe
prototype,Le.,denial,disavowal,negationandforeclosure.Thusitfallsbetween
thetwoextremesofrepression,whichisnecessaryandinevitable,andrejection
which obstructs all positive investment. Andre Green emphasises that the
word'work' isimportantin psychoanalysis.We are familiarwithdreamwork,
thework ofmourning, theworkof.elaboration,forexample. Itinsists,hesays,
onaprocesswhichisdestabilising,tormenting.Oneoftheessentialproperties
of the negative, then, isto contestunity.This occurswhen the unconscious is
activated by the return of the repressed confrontingus with a part or parts of
ourselveswetendto considerastrivialor unimportant.This impliestheneed
to Inistrustappearances, thatis,whatismanifestandconscious, whatseemsto
be commonsense, self-evident. The negativeisthuscharacterisedby thelogic
oftheshadow.Thepositivecontainsthenegativewithinitandviceversa. There
istherefore always a potential for reversal. Negativity is a common feature of
mankind but as the author argues there are twobasickindsofnegativity: one
which is potentially creative and structuring, when elaborated, and another
whichisdisorganisinganddestructuring, whenevacuated.In itsextremeform
the latter may develop into the radical refusal of all desire, (except negative
viii TheWork oftheNegative
desire',foundin thenegativismofnon-neuroticstructures.Thisbookismainly
aboutthesecondkind of negativitywhich coloursthewholepersonality.The
chapters on masochism, splittingand narcissism are central here.
Nowsomeremarksonlanguage. One feature ofthe textistheauthor's use
of neologismswhichmaybestylisticallycongruentin Frenchbutare undoubt
edly awkward in English. A major difficulty of translation has been the
derivativeforms of 'negatif"suchasnegativation, negative, negativanteaswell as
their counterparts positivation, positivis«etc. Green emphasises that negation
isconcerned with languagebut thatthis isonlyone aspect ofthe process he
is writing about which goes beyond language and affects different forms of
psychiclife includingtheaffectsanddrives. Ihavethereforedecidedto retain
thetermnegativationanditsderivativesastechnicaltermsin ananglicisedform,
andthefirst timetheyappearin thetextI haveputtheFrenchin italicsimme
diatelyafter. 'Negativising'or 'negativisation',then, refersto theprocessoract
of denying, or negating the positiveaspect of impulseordesirewhich results
in negation. Positivising refers to the almost constant process by which we
becomeawareofsomething,eitherdirectly(I wantthis,Iamthis)or indirectly
(not justdirect affirmation butby negating negation (Hegel».
The reader should also be aware of some of the basic choices which have
been made with regard to technical psychoanalytic terminology. First, all
referencesto Freud'sworkfollowtheStandardEdition. However, in viewofthe
fact that thistranslation has comein for agooddeal ofcriticism, particularly
in France and America, but also from some of the more hermeneutically
minded analysts in Britain, I have deviated from the Standard Edition with
respect to certainterms. Wherethisisthecase I havemadeanannotationthe
first timethewordoccursin thetext, givingtheGerman, frenchandStandard
Edition rendering. The main differencesare:
Drive: ReflectingbothFrench andincreasinglyAmerican usage(Kernberg)
and some British authors (Segal), I have translated Fr: pulsion; [G: Trieb]
throughout by 'drive' with its wholly psychical meaning, rather than by
'instinct' with its biological connotations. I therefore refer to the life drive
(pulsiondevie/l.ebenstriebianddeathdrive (pulsiondemort/Todestrieb)ratherthan
life instinctanddeathinstinct(StandardEdition). Thereare anumberofderiv
ativesofpulsionsuchaspulsionnalite,pulsionnalisation(whichare neologisms)
whichdonothaveastraightforwardequivalentin English.Inthesecases Ihave
offeredatranslationandleft theoriginalFrenchwordin bracketsimmediately
after.
Representation: The French word representation (Vorstellung) (Standard
Edition: idea or presentation) is rendered throughout as 'representation' and
representationdemotetrepresentationdechose(WortvorstellungandSachvorstellung)
as word representation and thing representation. (Standard Edition: word and
thing presentations) reflecting the author's wish to stress the re-evocation of
Translator's Note ix
mnemic traces. Ihave followed the StandardEdition in translating[igurabilite
tDarsteilbarkeits as representability.
Desireandwish (desir, yoeu; Begierde, Wunsch): theStandardEdition
translatesFreud's Wunsch' as'wish', Freud'sFrenchtranslators, however,have
I
always used 'desir'ratherthan'voeu',The maindistinctionisthat Wunschand
wish refer to isolated acts of wishing and desirto a continuous force. I have
used both wish and desiredependingon the context.
Investment: I have preferred investment/disinvestment to the Latinised
terms cathexis/decathexls.
Finally, abriefword on two key terms coined by the author: obiectalisation
and desobiectalisation. Objectalising, Green says (personal communication) is
thenaturaltendencyto transformdriveactivityintoan object. Functionsthus
become objects. The activity of painting or stamp collecting, for example,
becomesmoreimportantthantheworkofart producedorthestampcollection
itself. In disobiectalising, Le., theprocessofwithdrawinginvestment- in some
cases radically- from objects, whatmakesan objectuniquevanishes andany
substitute will do; the human aspect is lost. The fetishist, for example, does
not carewho wears the raincoat; it isthe raincoat which excites him. I have
alsoretainedtheterm subiectal,createdbytheauthorandformingasymmetrical
pair with the term obiecta! which already existed and was created to make a
distinction with obtectif(objective). Thus relations objectalesorrelations d'objet
(objectrelations) refersparticularlyto internalfantasmaticobjectsratherthan
external, objectively perceived objects. The author created the term subjectal
to gathertogetheranumberoftermsin contemporarypsychoanalysissuchas
ego, I,self, which haveacommon basis, l.e., pertainingto thesubject.
AcertainnumberofotherFrenchwordswhich haveno exacttranslation in
English such as meconnaissance, iouissance, reel have been retained in french
with an explanatoryannotation thefirst timethey appear. Wherethe French
is particularly idiomatic or neologistic I have often left the French term in
brackets immediatelyaftertheofferedtranslation or in an annotation sothat
the readercan benefit from both.
Finally, Iwouldliketo makeafewcommentsonstyleandreadability.Andre
Green'sargumentishighlymetapsychological, compact, complexand subtle
and his style somewhat literary and rhetorical. One of the principal difficul
ties Ifound was the sheer length and complexityof the sentences in French!
Asifthe pressure and flow of thoughtssomehow resisted simplerunits. Such
long sentences are not usual in English. On the whole I have tried to respect
the nature and style of the French text. If the reader finds this irritating I
apologise and can onlyrecommend that he reads the original!
Whateveritsshortcomingsmaybe, thistranslationwill makeit possiblefor
The Work ofthe Negativeto be read in English for the first timeand Iam glad
to havebeen able to participate in this exchange of experience and ideas.
Translator's Acknowledgements
It remains for meto expressmy sincerethanks to all thosewho have assisted
in thistask in manydifferentways: Iwouldespeciallyliketo thankGillDavies
andTrevorBrownofFreeAssociationBooksfor theirconfidencein entrusting
me with this work in the first place and for the support I have received
throughout.
Andre Green has also been very encouragingand has spent a good deal of
time answering my questions, reading and revising the manuscript and Iam
particularlygrateful for the series of conversations we had when the transla
tion was completed which helped me to gain a better understanding of the
bookand to clarifyoutstandingissues.
Verywarmthanks,too, to MoniqueZerbib.This translationwouldhavebeen
much more onerous if she had not given me her generous collaboration
throughouttheyear, helpingme untanglethemostdifficultpassages in French
and readingthrough much of the translation with me in French and English
simultaneously.
Iam also indebted to Hilde Rapp for reading through the manuscript on
behalfof FreeAssociation Books in the final stages and reminding me that I
had not quite finished yet! Her comments and feedback have enabled me to
make many improvements and give thetext more coherencegenerally.
Therearealarge numberofotherpeoplewhohavecontributedin someway
orotherbyansweringquestions, in somecasesbyreadingthrough achapter(s)
and giving me their comments, and by general encouragement and Iwould
liketo thankparticularly:Ian Snowball, DesSowerbyandClareParkinson,Joel
DarandMarie-DominiqueDeCoulhac,Marie-PauleBcrranger, EdwigeEncaoua
and my brother David. Of course, any errors and inadequacieswhich remain
are my own.
AndrewWeller, Paris, April 1999
x
Author's Acknowledgements
Ishouldliketo thankChristelleBecant and FlorenceBruneaufortheirhelp in
finalisingthemanuscript.The transcriptionof myseminarat ParisVII on the
work ofthenegativeby C.Michaelideswasaconsiderablehelpto me asIwas
writingthis book.
Mygratitudealsogoesto]ohn]acksonwhowaskindenoughto haveafinal
look at the text priorto its publication in French.
xi
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