Sabina Spielrein stands as both an important and tragic figureâmisunderstood or underestimated by her fellow analysts (including Jung and Freud) and often erased in the annals of psychoanalytic history. Her story has not only been largely forgotten, but actively (though unconsciously) repressed as the figure who represented a trauma buried in the early history of psychoanalysis.
Sabina Spielrein and the Beginnings of Psychoanalysis joins the growing field of scholarship on Spielreinâs distinctive and significant theoretical innovations at the foundations of psychoanalysis and serves as a new English language source of some of Spielreinâs key works. The book includes:
- Four chapters by Felicity Brock Kelcourse, Pamela Cooper-White, Klara Naszkowska, and Adrienne Harris spanning Spielreinâs life and exploring her works in depth, with new insights about her influence not only on Jung and Freud, but also Piaget in Geneva and Vygotsky and Luria in Moscow.
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"This fascinating book fills a large gap, and provides an important corrective, showing Sabina Spielrein as an original and innovative psychoanalytic thinker in her own right, not as a minor or romantic character between Jung and Freud, nor as one who primarily borrowed from them and Piaget, for example. Cooper-White and Kelcourse, along with Harris and Naszkowska, give us Spielrein as one of the truly influential women in early psychoanalysis, despite erasure and non-citation. Accessible translations of her writings allow us to hear her own extraordinary voice."-Donna M. Orange, Ph.D., Psy.D., New York Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, New York, USA
"Felicity Kelcourse and Pamela Cooper-White have edited an important collection of essays on the life and psychoanalytic contributions of Sabina Spielrein. The literature on Spielrein has come a long way since Aldo Carotenuto’s 1982 A secret symmetry: Sabina Spielrein between Freud and Jung. Subsequent literature has moved away from a focus on the triangular relationship between these famous figures to a critical assessment of Spielrein’s original work. Kelcourse focuses on Spielrein’s 1911 psychiatric dissertation, "On the Psychological Content of a Case of Schizophrenia." Cooper-White analyses Spielrein’s important 1912 article, "Destruction as a Cause of Becoming." Two additional contributors. Klara Naszkowska and Adrienne Harris cover Spielrein’s return to Russia in 1923, assessing her contributions to the development of psychoanalysis in Russia, with a specific focus on child language development."-Brian Skea, IAAP, Ph.D., Jungian psychoanalyst, private practice, Brewster, Massachusetts, USA; teaching faculty, past President and current Curriculum Coordinator, Boston Jung Institute
"This fascinating book fills a large gap, and provides an important corrective, showing Sabina Spielrein as an original and innovative psychoanalytic thinker in her own right, not as a minor or romantic character between Jung and Freud, nor as one who primarily borrowed from them and Piaget, for example. Cooper-White and Kelcourse, along with Harris and Naszkowska, give us Spielrein as one of the truly influential women in early psychoanalysis, despite erasure and non-citation. Accessible translations of her writings allow us to hear her own extraordinary voice."-Donna M. Orange, Ph.D., Psy.D., New York Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, New York, USA
‘Felicity Kelcourse and Pamela Cooper-White have edited an important collection of essays on the life and psychoanalytic contributions of Sabina Spielrein. The literature on Spielrein has come a long way since Aldo Carotenuto’s 1982 A secret symmetry: Sabina Spielrein between Freud and Jung. Subsequent literature has moved away from a focus on the triangular relationship between these famous figures to a critical assessment of Spielrein’s original work. Kelcourse focuses on Spielrein’s 1911 psychiatric dissertation, "On the Psychological Content of a Case of Schizophrenia." Cooper-White analyses Spielrein’s important 1912 article, "Destruction as a Cause of Becoming." Two additional contributors. Klara Naszkowska and Adrienne Harris cover Spielrein’s return to Russia in 1923, assessing her contributions to the development of psychoanalysis in Russia, with a specific focus on child language development.’-Brian Skea, IAAP, Ph.D., Jungian psychoanalyst, private practice, Brewster, Massachusetts, USA; teaching faculty, past President and current Curriculum Coordinator, Boston Jung Institute
Table of Contents
Introduction – The Editors Part I: Life and Works – an Overview A Comparative Timeline: Spielrein, Freud, Jung, and Other Theorists, Including Key Works and Significant Events within the History of Psychoanalysis – Cooper-White, Kelcourse & Harris Ch. 1 - From Rostov to Zürich: The Making of an Analyst - Felicity Brock Kelcourse Ch. 2 - From Zürich to Vienna: "The Power that Beautifies and Destroys" – Pamela Cooper-White Ch. 3 – Passions, Politics, and Drives: Sabina Spielrein in Soviet Russia – Klara Naszkowska Ch. 4 – "Language Is There to Bewilder Itself and Others": Theoretical and Clinical Contributions of Sabina Spielrein – Adrienne Harris Part II: Samples of Spielrein’s Writings – New Translations in English Ch. 5 – Excerpts from On the Psychological Content of a Case of Schizophrenia (dissertation) (1911) Ch. 6 – Destruction as the Cause of Becoming (1911) Ch. 7 – Maternal Love (1913) Ch. 8 – The Forgotten Name (1914) Ch. 9 – Two Menstrual Dreams (1914)Ch. 10 – Russian Literature: Report on the Progress of Psychoanalysis in the Years 1914-1919 (1921) Ch. 11 – Who is the Guilty One? (1922) Ch. 12 – Time in Subliminal Psychic Life (1923) Ch. 13 – The Three Questions (1923) Ch. 14 – Some Similarities between a Child’s Thought, Aphasic Thought, and Subconscious Thought (1923) Ch. 15 – Dr. Skalkovskiy’s Report (1929) Ch. 16 – Children’s Drawings with Eyes Open and Closed (1928/1931)
