["The Soul-Searchers"--discussion of circulars of the Secret Committee. With a letter by Freud and Rank].
The appearance of Georg Groddeck's novel Der Seelensucher (1921) in the Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag caused a stir among the members of the Secret Committee which, as hitherto unpublished circulars from Committee members testify, then developed into a full-grown controversy. Proceeding from the documents themselves, the author traces the course and the eventual settlement of the difference of opinion over Groddeck's novel. His concern in so doing is not so much to throw light on an episode in the early history of psychoanalysis but rather to take that episode as an instance demonstrating the nature of the discourse mechanisms introduced by Freud to protect the central tenets of his teachings. Bos concludes that these were largely institutional defence mechanisms designed to control the generation of psychoanalytic discourse among the Committee members. In present-day terms, the question arises to what extent psychoanalytic societies and institutions employ such discourse strategies vis-à-vis non-conformists and outsiders.
Universität Utrecht, FB Allgemeine Sozialwissenschaften.
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Bos
D005619:Freudian Theory; D006801:Humans; D008093:Literature, Modern; D011572:Psychoanalysis; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D012958:Societies, Scientific; D013557:Switzerland
Die "Seelensucher"-Diskussion in den Rundbriefen des Geheimen Komitees. Mit einem Brief von Freud und Rank.