Cultures of Fetishism by Louise J. Kaplan Read Free Book Online Page A

I am about to make interpretations about a person’s mental state without their consent or cooperation, it is best to begin by giving Freud an
    opportunity to answer these questions himself. As we saw in his letter to Salome, his own observations about himself seem to confirm that there was a fundamental change in Freud’s attitudes after 1923.
    In a postscript written ten years after the 1925 publication of “An Autobiographical Study,” Freud says: “Shortly before I wrote this study it seemed as though my life would soon be brought to an end by the recur- rence of a malignant disease; but surgical skill saved me in 1923 and I was able to continue my life and my work, though no longer in freedom from pain.” 27
    As he looks over his post-1923 accomplishments he emphasizes that though he did not cease his analytic work, “ a significant change has taken place ” 28 ( itals. mine).
    After mentioning that he had carried out some significant bits of analytic work since then, among them his revision of the problem of anxiety (1926) and a simple explanation of fetishism (1927), nevertheless:

    It would be true to say that, since I put forward my hypothesis of the existence of two classes of instincts (Eros and the death instinct) and since I proposed a division of the mental personality into an ego, a super-ego and id (1923b), I have made no further decisive contributions to psychoanalysis. . . . This circumstance is connected with an alteration in myself with what might be described as a phase of regressive development. ( itals. mine ) 29

    In connection with this regression, Freud speaks of his return to his earli- est interests in religious, moral, and cultural issues: “interests which I had acquired in the later part of my life have receded, while the older and original ones become prominent once more.” 30
    While it would be far afield from the central concerns of this chapter to delve into the possible connections between Freud’s growing awareness of his now always imminent death and his return to his youthful thoughts on religion or morality, it is surely to the point that Freud acknowledges the “significant change” in his analytic attitude, and along with it “a significant change in myself.”
    Before I contrast Freud’s earlier studies of fetishism and female sexuality with his post-1923 studies, I turn, once again, for a moment more, to another of his self-observations, which, quite to the point of this contrast, appears in his 1925 paper, “Some Psychical Consequences of the Anatomical Distinction between the Sexes.”
    He introduces that paper with an apology for bringing forth findings that have not yet been proven. Asking himself why he does not postpone publication until he has the necessary proof, he responds, “Because the conditions under which I work have undergone a change, with implica- tions that I cannot hide.” 31 In the past, says Freud, “I was not one of those who were unable to hold back a discovery before it was confirmed or corrected.” 32

    But in those days I had unlimited time before me— “ oceans of time”. . . and material poured in on me in such quantities that fresh experiences were hardly
    to be escaped. . . . But now everything has changed. The time before me is lim- ited. The whole of it is no longer spent in working [he meant working analytically with patients], so that my opportunities for making fresh observations are not so numerous. If I think I see something new, I am uncertain whether I can wait for it to be confirmed. And further, everything that is to be seen upon the surface has already been exhausted: what remains has to be slowly and laboriously dragged up from the depths. 33

    With these remarks, Freud justifies publishing a work before its value or lack of value can be established. In other words, in 1925 there was, in contrast to his earlier days, an urgency, a pressing need to tackle certain psychoanalytic problems, in this instance, the problem