The Fetish in Nicole Krauss' Great House and in Clinical Practice

The paper seeks to recast the idea of the fetish in relational terms. It uses Freud, Winnicott, attachment theory, and multiple self-state theory as background to understanding that fetishes are one response to devastating trauma. Fetish making—a creative effort to ward off threat, undo annihilating loss, and restore and maintain a sense of safety—is contextually and intersubjectively generated and supported. Further, the construction of a fetish in the analytic relationship represents a co-created enactment. Although Freud was “not able to explain” why some people react to the fright of castration by creating a fetish—through the process he termed “disavowal” (Freud, 1927 Freud, S. 1927. Fetishism. Standard Edition, 21 Google Scholar])—I suggest here that contextual circumstances, including traumatic personal and social history and the analytic relationship, contribute to the creation and continuance of fetishes. The Nicole Krauss novel Great House and a clinical case illustrate my ideas.