Episteme
Abstract
The author looks at three readings of Freud by Derrida, Michel de Certeau, and Deleuze/Guattari, trying to answer the question: For Freud, how does writing produce meaning and what does this historicizing function imply about the psyche in general? The author inspects two of Freud’s analogies that are to explain and justify psychoanalysis: books avoiding political censorship and the mystic writing pad. These become doorways to the ensuing criticisms. The three commentaries trace sections of Freud’s thought as they relate to his fundamental concepts and to the work those concepts are supposed to do. Read together, the readings each supply support for the conclusion that Freud illegitimately treats the unconscious as the first cause, tied as he is to the metaphysics of presence. Freud’s psychoanalyst, in the name of nothingness, makes real his historicizing of the unconscious. Freud’s thought betrays his thought.
Recommended Citation
Perovic, Sanja
(1997)
"Freud on Writing: Some Historicist Perspectives,"
Episteme: Vol. 8, Article 7.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.denison.edu/episteme/vol8/iss1/7