Writing in Psychoanalysis

141 Pages·1996·3.788 MB·English

by  Emma Piccoli

r WRITING IN

PSYCHOANALYSIS

edited by

Emma Piccioli

Pier Luigi Rossi

Antonio Alberto Semi

Psychoanalytic Issues

Monograph Series

Karnac Books for

Rivista di Psicoanalisi
WRITING

IN

PSYCHOANALYSIS
Psychoanalytic Issues Monograph Series
edited by
Emma Piccioli, Pier Luigi Rossi, and Antonio Alberto Semi
of the
Rivista di Psicoanalisi
WRITING

IN

PSYCHOANALYSIS

Francesco Barale Parthenope Bion Talamo
John E. Gedo Patrick Mahony
Henning Paikin Fausto Petrella
Giorgio Sacerdoti Antonio Alberto Semi
published by
KARNAC BOOKS

f o r R i v i s t a d i P s i c o a n a l i s i
First published in English in 1996 by
H. Karnac (Books) Ltd,
118 Finchley Road,
London NW3 5HT
copyright © 1996 by Rivista di Psicoanalisi
arrangement and Introduction copyright © 1996 by Emma Piccioli,
Pier Luigi Rossi, and Antonio Alberto Semi
chapter one copyright © 1996 by John E. Gedo
chapter two copyright © 1996 by Patrick Mahony
chapter three copyright © 1996 by Henning Paikin
chapter four copyright © 1996 by Antonio Alberto Semi
chapter five copyright © 1996 by Parthenope Bion Talamo
chapter six copyright © 1996 by Fausto Petrella
chapter seven copyright © 1996 by Francesco Barale
chapter eight copyright © 1996 by Giorgio Sacerdoti
Italian edition copyright © 1993 by Rivista di Psicoanalisi
The rights of the editors and contributors to be identified as the authors
of this work have been asserted in accordance with §§ 77 and 78 of the
Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Writing in psychoanalysis
1. Psychoanalysis
I. Piccioli, Emma II. Rossi, Pier Luigi III. Semi, Antonio
Alberto
150.Γ95
ISBN 978-1-85575-132-3
Printed in Great Britain by BPC Wheatons Ltd, Exeter
CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE
The reveries of a solitary scribbler
John E. Gedo
CHAPTER TWO
Psychoanalysis—the writing cure
Patrick Mahony
CHAPTER THREE
From analytic dialogue to published text
Henning Paikin
CHAPTER FOUR
Writing in psychoanalysis
Antonio Alberto Semi
Vi CONTENTS
CHAPTER FIVE
An "ethical code" for authors?
Parthenope Bion Talamo 71
CHAPTER SIX
Experiences and considerations of a "reader"
of psychoanalysis
Fausto Petrella 85
CHAPTER SEVEN
The evaluation of psychoanalytical texts
and the imaginary scenario in which
their writing takes place: observations of an editor
Francesco Bardie 101
CHAPTER EIGHT
Psychoanalytical visions of reality and styles of writing
Giorgio Sacerdoti 113
REFERENCES 117
INDEX 123
INTRODUCTION

T
his is the first volume of a monograph series, Psychoana­
lytic Issues, published jointly by the Rivista di Psico­
analisi (Journal of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society) and
Karnac Books. The series, and in particular this first volume, is
primarily the result of deliberations within the editorial board,
initiated when Alberto Semi became Editor-in-Chief three years
ago. In addition, it addresses a long-standing problem—the rela­
tive isolation of our Psychoanalytic Society as a result of
language barriers. It is true that such Is the fate of most psycho­
analytic communities that do not use English as their main
language—their scientific debates are seldom communicated to
other linguistic groupings. And we may all agree that it is a
terrible waste to develop ideas if they cannot circulate freely and
be open to confirmation and refinement.
We believe that there is a great contrast between the
liveliness of much scientific discourse in our midst and commu­
nication abroad. The international scientific literature is widely
read In Italy, both in the original and in translation. Conse­
quently, our members are keenly aware of developments on
the international scene; this diffusion of information is largely
vii
Viii INTRODUCTION
responsible for the pluralism that characterizes our psycho­
analytic community. We feel it is incumbent upon us, at this
point, to overcome the failure to communicate with our col­
leagues abroad—to master our partial aphasia, so to speak.
Hence It is no coincidence that we initiate our monographic
series in English with an issue devoted to "writing in psychoa­
nalysis".
All this might sound as though we had had some grand
general plan in mind when we decided to initiate the series.
Actually, we were at first unable to avail ourselves of anything so
sophisticated, the whole project having grown In a more elemen­
tary manner, somewhat evocative of the growth of organic mat­
ter—by "accretion", as it were. The Shorter O.E.D, defines this
process variously as "Continued growth. . . . The growing to­
gether of particles, or of parts normally separate. . . . The pro­
cess of growth by external addition . . .", and so on.
The nucleus of this particular volume saw the light following
a November 1993 colloquium organized by Semi for those in­
volved in publishing the Rtvista. The aim of this meeting was
to discuss the many problems involved in writing and, conse­
quently, the particular difficulties of editorial work. The idea was
to reflect both on the intrapsychic and the relational dimensions
at stake: in particular, concerning the latter, we felt that, as
psychoanalysts involved in editorial work, an elaboration of the
relationship between us and the authors who sent their papers
in for evaluation was crucial. The meeting was extremely stimu­
lating, and the papers were published in Issue 4, 1993, of the
Rivtsta, as a way of communicating to the readers of the journal
not only the meaning of our work as editors, but also the mean­
ing that their work had for us, over and above the technicalities
involved in the evaluation of a manuscript. We thought it might
be interesting to hear what analysts from other psychoanalytic
cultures, also engaged in editing a psychoanalytic Journal, might
have to say on the subject, and, since responses were encourag­
ing, it was decided that it might be worth while publishing our
efforts, having further expanded the process of growth by the
addition of contributions by colleagues from other psychoana­
lytic cultures.
We are grateful to John Gedo, Patrick Mahony, and Henning
Paikin not only for the intrinsic value of their respective papers,
INTRODUCTION ix
but, above all, for their readiness to contribute to this volume,
thus sustaining our belief in the vitality of a truly common
psychoanalytic culture, transcending the limits imposed by dif­
fering idioms. To this end, the theme of the present monograph
appears to us a particularly apt one. After all, the history
of writing in psychoanalysis is part and parcel of the history of
the psychoanalytic movement—from Freud onwards, all psycho­
analysts have felt the need to write psychoanalysis and have
wrestled with the difficulties involved.
The Editors