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I finished Dora this afternoon. I was completely blown away by this analysis. No, I don't think it was a great analytical achievement. I think it was utter and complete misinterpretation. Was Freud considered forward thinking in his time? God, those must have been awful times for women. Yes, he builds some great structures from tiny bits of thread. But they're tiny bits of thread that were extracted over hours of conversation. Where he builds structures of repressed lust, I see a young woman under stress due to a dysfunctional family and having to defend herself against a determined, aggressive predator. He was trying to wear down her resistance, her family was at best ignoring it, at worst facilitating, and she was torn apart by the deceit and breached trust inherent in her living situation.
Freud says that in analysis "No" means "Yes" and everything is it's opposite. If his patient happens to use a word that is within one degree of separation of a word which is slang for a sexual body part it will be interpreted as the body part. Now think about the field day you could have with someone in a two hour conversion under those rules. For instance at one point Dora was relating an incident were she wanted to show a cousin a travel brochure she'd recent received about some resort or other. She went to the closet and got down the container it was stored in. But the container was locked so she said, "Where is the key?" to her mother. Freud saw one degree of separation, the key would open the box. The box is slang for female anatomy, so therefore, Dora was saying "Where is the penis?"
Dora discontinued the therapy before it was complete. Freud describes the last session in detail. As I read it, she knew she wasn't coming back. She didn't argue anymore, she just humored him, smiled, nodded, maybe even egged him on a bit. He felt he'd intellectually triumphed, showing her what she really felt. I think she couldn't be bothered to tell him he was wrong anymore. She went home and confronted the people who were causing her the stress and emotional distress: Herr K., Frau K. and her father.
But the quotes are such lovely misogyny, I'm not I could find better outside a rap song.
( Details cut for those who might not want to vomit )
28. Sigmund Freud Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria
Freud says that in analysis "No" means "Yes" and everything is it's opposite. If his patient happens to use a word that is within one degree of separation of a word which is slang for a sexual body part it will be interpreted as the body part. Now think about the field day you could have with someone in a two hour conversion under those rules. For instance at one point Dora was relating an incident were she wanted to show a cousin a travel brochure she'd recent received about some resort or other. She went to the closet and got down the container it was stored in. But the container was locked so she said, "Where is the key?" to her mother. Freud saw one degree of separation, the key would open the box. The box is slang for female anatomy, so therefore, Dora was saying "Where is the penis?"
Dora discontinued the therapy before it was complete. Freud describes the last session in detail. As I read it, she knew she wasn't coming back. She didn't argue anymore, she just humored him, smiled, nodded, maybe even egged him on a bit. He felt he'd intellectually triumphed, showing her what she really felt. I think she couldn't be bothered to tell him he was wrong anymore. She went home and confronted the people who were causing her the stress and emotional distress: Herr K., Frau K. and her father.
But the quotes are such lovely misogyny, I'm not I could find better outside a rap song.
( Details cut for those who might not want to vomit )
28. Sigmund Freud Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria
