Missing the point

Om symboler i psykoanalysen. En palimpsest

Abstract

The paper discusses a certain quartet among Freud's collegues, and their contribution to a psychoanalytic theory of symbolism: Ferenczi, Rank, Sachs, and Jones. It is shown that these authors, in their eagerness to defend a 'Freudian position' in the aftermath of the conflicts with Jung a.o., miss the point of symbolism in confounding symbols with neurotic symptoms. The figure of thought masterplotting this theoretical displacement of symbols turns out in the end to be the classical opposition between direct and indirect, figurative speech. On the other hand, stray thoughts and contradictions in the texts of these authors indicate a more pertinent and interesting conception of symbols - at work between the lines, as it were. Possible implications of these undeveloped strains of insight are then developed, pointing
in the direction of Melanie Klein and the Laplanchien working through of the concept of 'deferred action' - and also pointing back to some pointed remarks of Freud, disregarded by his compatriot collegues.