"To Sigmund Freud, Blameless Physician"

Paper Summary:

This paper traces the development of the theory of transference in Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory, arguing that transference holds historical, theoretical, and therapeutic significance. The theory of transference embodies a number of the conflicts inherent in the development and reception of psychoanalytic theory and the performance of psychoanalytic therapy. It explores transference from both the perspective of the analyst and that of the patient, through the memoir of American Imagist poet H.D. (Hilda Doolittle).

Outline
Transference in Theory, Practice, Conflict
Analytic Scandal and the Origins of Transference
"Dynamics" and "Observations"
Dora's Transference and the Analytic Narrative
H.D. and the Analytic Autobiography: Transference into (Post)Modernity

From the Paper:

"Even the most sophisticated understanding of psychoanalytic theory does not necessarily imply an understanding of psychoanalytic technique. The question of the connection between theory and technique, or therapeutic practice, is of course one that has occupied analysts from Freud to the present, but in a sense there has been a split between the two: if the theory of psychoanalysis continues to inform academic work across the humanities (particularly in literary studies), and the practical ideas of psychoanalysis continue to inform various kinds of non-analytic psychotherapy, practitioners of the one do not necessarily understand the other."

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