The Vanishing Mother: Reply to Commentaries |
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Authors: | Jill Salberg PhD |
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Institution: | 1. New York University, Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis;2. National Institute for the Psychotherapies;3. Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy |
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Abstract: | In this response to discussions by Aron and Boyarin I draw attention to the instability of the figure of the mother within Freud's presentation of his life, as well as within psychoanalysis. I link this instability to the figure of a “spectral” mother and perhaps subversive aspects of femininity. Whereas Aron links castration anxiety with prevailing anti-Semitic ideas, I look to the Jewish ritual of the Brit Milah and the laws of Niddah, which further reveal attempts to control and contain femininity. Boyarin raises a concern between historicizing and psychoanalyzing Freud that I consider a misreading. I believe my hybrid method of moving between historical, cultural, religious, and psychoanalytic planes, as lived by Freud within his family, is not so different from Boyarin's own approach. |
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