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Desire and the loss of object

Desire and the loss of object Thomas Ewens The first paper in this symposium sketched the broad outlines of our problem and introduced the question concerning the relationship between desire and its possible-or impossible-object. I propose to examine this question in greater depth and from another point of view. One might begin simply by examining the relation between the infant and its mother's body. In fact, Lacan speaks of the body of the mother in only a few places in the seminars on "Ethics of Psychoanalysis" (1959-60). He does so in the context of one of his discussions of"the thing" (Das Ding) and again in a discussion of the problem of sublimation. In both of these instances his reference to the maternal body is in fact a reference to Melanie Klein and the similarities between what Melanie Klein calls the maternal body and Lacan calls the thing: "The Kleinian articulation consists in this: to have put in the central place of Das Ding the mythic body of the mother1; or, again, "where I speak of the thing the Kleinian doctrine essen- tially puts the body of the mother" (seminar of 1/27/60, p. 3). It was in the "Ethics of Psychoanalysis" that Lacan first began to http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The American Journal of Psychoanalysis Springer Journals

Desire and the loss of object

Ewens, Thomas
The American Journal of Psychoanalysis , Volume 47 (4): 7 – Dec 1, 1987
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References (6)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
1987 Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis
ISSN
0002-9548
eISSN
1573-6741
DOI
10.1007/BF01255222
Publisher site
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Abstract

Thomas Ewens The first paper in this symposium sketched the broad outlines of our problem and introduced the question concerning the relationship between desire and its possible-or impossible-object. I propose to examine this question in greater depth and from another point of view. One might begin simply by examining the relation between the infant and its mother's body. In fact, Lacan speaks of the body of the mother in only a few places in the seminars on "Ethics of Psychoanalysis" (1959-60). He does so in the context of one of his discussions of"the thing" (Das Ding) and again in a discussion of the problem of sublimation. In both of these instances his reference to the maternal body is in fact a reference to Melanie Klein and the similarities between what Melanie Klein calls the maternal body and Lacan calls the thing: "The Kleinian articulation consists in this: to have put in the central place of Das Ding the mythic body of the mother1; or, again, "where I speak of the thing the Kleinian doctrine essen- tially puts the body of the mother" (seminar of 1/27/60, p. 3). It was in the "Ethics of Psychoanalysis" that Lacan first began to

Journal

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis – Springer Journals

Published: Dec 1, 1987

Keywords: Clinical Psychology; Psychotherapy; Psychoanalysis

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