Otto Rank

This paper examines the interface between psychoanalysis and the surrealist movement in the 1930s and early 1940s in France. Sanctioned on the part of the surrealists as early as 1924 in André Breton’s first Surrealist Manifesto, this interplay proved to be an ongoing process, which influenced most of the people who were at some time related to this group of avant-garde artists, including Salvador Dali. Employing The Secret Life of Salvador Dali as a starting point, the paper focuses on Dali’s conception of intra-uterine life, as well as its representation in his work in the 1930s. Life in the womb becomes a point of differentiation between Dali and the leaders of surrealism, mainly Breton, and a meeting point for the Catalan artist and the psychoanalytic trends in Paris between the wars. The paper explores the views of Sigmund Freud, Otto Rank and Jacques Lacan concerning intra-uterine life and the ways in which that partakes in the life of the individual, as these are expressed in the psychoanalytic texts known to Dali. Notions such as “inorganic state”, “trauma of birth”, death instincts and imago, are also explored, as they reverberate in Dali’s writings and paintings of the time.

Il presente lavoro intende far emergere le peculiarità del processo di soggettivazione di un gemello rispetto ad un nato singolo. Al fine di ciò, è stata posta la vita prenatale della coppia come oggetto d’indagine, in quanto ritenuta la primaria fonte di esperienza dell’Altro e il nucleo centrale dello scarto tra gemello e fratello.

This article was originally published in Encyclopedia of Creativity, Second Edition published by Elsevier, and the attached copy is provided by Elsevier for the author's benefit and for the benefit of the author's institution, for non-commercial research and educational use including without limitation use in instruction at your institution, sending it to specific colleagues who you know, and providing a copy to your institution's administrator. All other uses, reproduction and distribution, including without limitation commercial reprints, selling or licensing copies or access, or posting on open internet sites, your personal or institution's website or repository, are prohibited. For exceptions, permission may be sought for such use through Elsevier's permissions site at: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissionusematerial

This paper is a M.A. Research Paper submitted to Carleton University of Ottawa, Canada (1999).

A consideration of sexual frustration in the “Proteus” chapter of James Joyce’s Ulysses will allow us to understand Stephen Dedalus’s position as a failed literary artist. While it is commonly acknowledged that Stephen’s sexual frustration and his resulting recourse to prostitutes enable his writing in A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man, when critics turn to “Proteus,” they tend to disregard how sexual tension affects the artist as a grown man. In Portrait, Stephen’s poverty and sexual insecurities keep him from girls like Emma Clery and push him toward prostitutes, instead. In an effort to overcome his sexual inadequacies, Stephen seeks out sexual expertise of harlots, who in turn, fuel his masturbatory fantasies and facilitate his creative process. But although his carnal urges are satiated through his sexual exchanges with prostitutes, vulgar monstrosities continue to grow in his mind and find expression in daydreams and fantasies. These daydreams and fantasies then become the fictions he crafts in poetry, the “distant music” (Portrait 103), as it were, to which he masturbates. In short, like a dog chasing his tail, Stephen Dedalus is entangled in a labyrinthine pattern of sexual desire that sexually frustrates him and forces a retreat into his art. In this context, the writing he produces and the sexual techniques he learns do not win him the love of the woman he desires.

Una concepción rígida y estereotipada de las aportaciones de C. G. Jung no permite su estudio imparcial y desprejuiciado, no dogmático. Además tal dogmatismo frecuentemente orienta la psicología analítica hacia determinadas derivadas ajenas a la investigación psicológica y de cualquier otra índole. Esto es especialmente válido en lo que se refiere a las relaciones entre el yo y el Sí-mismo, conceptos fundamentales e irresueltos que no admiten hoy por hoy ningún conocimiento definitivo. A esto se añade que las dificultades de traducción no favorecen la plena comprensión de los conceptos y el pensamiento propio de un autor como Jung.

*Junior Yr Undergrad *Annotated Bibliography* The most compelling concept that was developed throughout my research related to the work of Metz and Balazs regarding the inherent self-conscious character of film and its ability to raise a double naturally through identification with the spectator. Although, I was not able to find a translated edition of Irzykowski’s The Tenth Muse, I did find some references to it that lead me to believe the work could be a valuable addition to my research with regard to understanding Metz’s theories of identification in film.

Trauma theory, especially associated with the works of Cathy Caruth and Judith Lewis Herman, is expressed by Sigmund Freud especially in his works Studies in Hysteria, Beyond the Pleasure Principle and Moses and Monotheism. According to him, trauma is the result of fright which is different from fear and dread. It is different because they both anticipate the danger, but fright is an abrupt experience. The repetitive feature of this unexpected fright is important as well. In this respect, the main problem is actually readaptation to life aftermath of the traumatic event. Otto Rank, a beloved student of Freud, takes this theory a step further and develops the Trauma of Birth theory, in which all the important points in the life of individual are directly associated with birth and father is of secondary importance. Incorporating these theories, D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers has sparkling characters like Gertrude, William and Paul each of whom experiences traumatic events. In this study, it is aimed to display and to examine the tragic but persevering efforts of the characters in the work to cope with the trauma in their own way.

Otto Rank's approach to psychotherapy, developed after his separation from Freud, encourages living life fully in spite of death and limitation. In his emphasis on the here and now, new experience in the therapeutic relationship, and collaboration and creativity in the therapy process, Rank was ahead of his time. As a theorist of personality and of creativity, his work is well known, but his influence on the practices of humanistic, existential, and post-psychoanalytic relational therapists is largely unacknowledged. Rank ' s creative legacy is an approach to psychotherapy that calls forth artistry and collaboration between therapist and client. Otto Rank was an original: an artist-type , a creative individual whose approach to psychotherapy encourages an art of living. " Life itself must be formed artistically, " said Rank in his diary at age 20, " Real living must be created so that it has need of no other life, no art, beyond itself " (Lieberman, 1985, p. 37). Rank was referring not just to his own life, but to the artist ' s life and to life in general, and to the possibility for each person to live more artfully, more fully, and with deeper existential awareness. Life lived fully — not avoided, but experienced with all its pain and joy, and despite its limitation in death — is the ultimate creative act. Rank ' s understanding of this truth underlies his explication of " the artist type, " an individual who, in contrast to the over-analytical, life-withholding, neurotic, willingly faces life's limitations in order to create. Artists confront limitations of medium, skill, and time to create works of lasting significance. Conflicts and disappointments are inevitable in life, but in contrast to the neurotic whose " failed art " leads to a despairing sense of loss, artists take what is given and use it to make something new.

The goal of this study is to explore the development of Otto Rank's (1884-1939) philosophy through his shifting conceptions of heroism. The focus is specifically on the notion of Artist as the Hero. The investigation is conducted by performing a comparative study of Rank's thought with that of his two great mentors: Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). The study employs various key concepts of Nietzsche – such as Apollonian / Dionysian dichotomy – to illustrate similarities and differences between Rank and Freud. Nietzsche acts here as a basis for comparison. This study argues that the psychologies of Rank and Freud – and their gradual divergence – can be seen as two different and unique answers to the challenge of nihilism, as expressed by Nietzsche with his conception of the Death of God and the cultural criticism that entails. It proposes that the notion of Artistic Hero in the philosophies of Rank, Freud and Nietzsche can be seen as a key concept, as they attempt to answer this dilemma. The study shows how the development of Rank's thought progresses from strict adherence to Freud's ideas to a point where he re-unites again with his early philosophical hero, Nietzsche, the artistic heroism acting as a connecting metaphor. The study elucidates how Rank uses Nietzsche to break away from Freud, and Freud, on the other hand, tries to perform a 'heroic escape' from Nietzsche's influence. In their quest for authenticity and new values, these three thinkers essentially create heroic myths of their own. Although the psychology of Freud and the philosophy of Nietzsche are well-known in both public and academic spheres, the same cannot be said about Rank, whose ideas still remain unknown and obscure to most. In its own small way, this study aims to rectify this situation by exploring 'Rankian' ideas. There is an added dynamism that comes from juxtaposing Rank's thought with Nietzsche and Freud's.

*course design + syllabus* In brief summary, the preparation of a proposed syllabus for examining the textuality of the xenomorph reveals an expansive discourse on the Alien franchise and its key figure. The Alien franchise is ever-growing , lending strength to the thesis that the xenomorph is a rich textual object of media. After completion of the reading list and assignments, the goal would be to turn to Henry Jenkins’s work on ‘fan-text poaching’ in order to distinguish the hermeneutical relationship between ‘fan texts’ and ‘franchise texts’. The xenomorph can potentially be shown to have a varied textual quality (both open and closed) depending on the media and texts in which the xenomorph is represented and discussed. This claim could prove to be valuable to the general discourse on textuality, semiotics and hermeneutics.

Il presente saggio tratta di quelle modalità attraverso cui, secondo una prospettiva psicoanalitica, i contenuti dell’inconscio, altrimenti rimossi e censurati, trovano possibilità di espressione in una forma simbolica. Nello specifico, ho soffermato l’attenzione sui contributi di Sigmund Freud, Otto
Rank e Géza Róheim in merito ai sogni, ai miti e alle fiabe, in quanto tali autori sembrano muoversi su una stessa linea: evidenziare la rilevanza che elementi e motivi primitivi continuano ad esercitare a livello psichico, come suggerito dalla ricorrenza di certi simboli onirici, mitici e fiabeschi che rivelano
un carattere enigmatico.
È probabilmente in quest’ottica che gli interessi della psicoanalisi si sono estesi sino allo studio delle credenze e dei costumi di popolazioni aborigene (viventi ad uno stato simile a quello primitivo), giungendo a mostrarne il legame con quegli elementi della psiche infantile che nel corso di un sano sviluppo individuale vengono certamente superati, ma che continuano per tutto l’arco dell’esistenza a svolgere un’influenza latente nell’inconscio.

This study of the recent "history" of hysteria, from Charcot to Freud, shows how Freud took up Charcot's crucial distinction between epilepsy and epileptoid hysteria, effectively creating a disorder with a distinct symptomatology. The disorder, as Breuer and Freud would also acknowledge, had to do with the "inscription" of memories in the body over time; thus hysterics suffered from "des réminiscences"--in addition to a "congenital weakness." I show here that the evolution of the concept of hysteria, from a condition shared by women and men (and, in line with the racism of the time: Jewish men who escape pogroms in Eastern Europe, notably), to a largely abandoned category of "my neurotica" (writes Freud as he abandons publishing case studies of hysterics), to one that, finally, does not map on to traumatic war neuroses. I examine the evolution of Freud's appraisal of hysteria and anxiety, showing how it passes from a "woman's disorder" (wandering womb) to a disease of traumatic memories (Freud, *Studies on Hysteria*), to a (largely female, anew) phantasmatic and intractable malady that cannot coincide with traumatism, despite the resemblance between the two psychological disorders. From there, I examine gendered logics in 19th century thought.

L'introduzione al volume di Max Eitingon "Il mio policlinico" propone un sintetico quadro sulla personalità di Eitingon e il suo ruolo nella storia della psicoanalisi, nei suoi aspetti istituzionali e, con l'apertura del policlinico psicoanalitico di Brlino, in quelli dell'applicazione clinica

Sergej M. Ejzenštejn was very much involved with psychology and psychoanalysis. He
was an important friend of Lev Vygotskij, founder of cultural-historical psychology, and of
Aleksandr Lurija, father of modern neuropsychological assessment: both Vygotskij and Lurija in
the early 1920s were among the supporters of psychoanalysis in Russia and members of the
Moscow Psychoanalytic Society. In Ejzenštejn’s writings on film language we find psychological
concepts of Vygotskij, such as “agglutination” and “internal speech”, that were present in the
theory of film editing. As far as psychoanalysis is concerned, Ejzenštejn was very much interested
in the concept of regression: the art lover, including the movie spectator, must regress and at the
same time activate the most mature part of the psyche. Ejzenštejn was friend of Hanns Sachs and
knew Otto Rank, Sándor Ferenczi, Franz Alexander, and Wilhelm Reich. In 1929 he gave a
lecture at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute. In the USSR and in the USA he had two short
experiences of psychoanalytic therapy. [Keywords: Soviet cinema; Marxism and psychoanalysis;
Cinema and psychoanalysis; Lev Vygotskij; Aleksandr Lurija]

В статье рассматривается аналогия сна и мифа, являющаяся одной из базовых моделей психологического подхода к интерпретации мифологических текстов и символов. Смысл этой параллели раскрывается нами на материалах из работ Фрейда, Абрахама, Ранка, а также Юнга и некоторых его последователей. Делаются выводы о значении этой модели для современной психологии религии.

Otto Rank posed the human question of the search for permanence by means of the symbolic life, which includes belonging to a group with which the individual identifies himself or herself. Historically, this has been constituted in the tribe, the clan, the nation, etc., as a unit that needs to be asserted in opposition to the other groups. Ernest Becker emphasized that this affirmation of the symbolic value of the belonging to a group needed the denial of the value of others. In fact, Otto Rank saw in it the real source of conflict and warfare (Rank, 1958, p. 40).
However, insofar as Rank can be considered as an exponent of German idealism, we must assume a space of freedom of the individual, which can be conceived of as grounded in Kantian moral philosophy. Thus, if what characterizes the human subject are the choices freely made by reason, we find out that the human being in Rank's works has a freedom of choice, which we can identify as a Kantian influence. Therefore, we intend to present Rank’s texts as consistent with Immanuel Kant’s legacy, mainly regarding practical reason. We can assume that, through these choices in relation to moral acting, the affirmation of the being of the individual does not necessarily necessitate the overcoming of the other, that is, dispenses violence, although bringing a new light to the violence of society.
Joining some considerations on violence and society from Ernest Becker, with the emphasis of Otto Rank on the individual as the bearer of the moral law, as a Kantian influence, we have a solid ground to observe the fact that social ordering is a human construction. Not being neutral, it generates nuclei of power, to achieve the empowerment of some at the expense of the disempowerment of the majority. From this study, we must conclude that, to foster ethics, these social relationships need to become more akin to the moral law that lies in the value of the individual.

W antologii znalazły się teksty czołowych przedstawicieli i przedstawicielek ruchu psychoanalitycznego. Wilhelm Stekel, Karl Abraham, Sándor Ferenczi, Siegfried Bernfeld, Helena Deutsch, Lou Andreas-Salomé, Otto Rank, Otto Gross, Georg Groddeck czy Hermine Hug-Hellmuth to kluczowi współpracownicy Sigmunda Freuda, którzy przyczynili się do rozwoju i popularyzacji psychoanalizy w pierwszych dekadach XX wieku. Tom prezentuje ich refleksje nad związkiem nieświadomości i sztuki, społecznym znaczeniem teorii Freuda, miłością i śmiercią, szaleństwem i swobodnym fantazjowaniem, nienormatywną seksualnością, psychologią dziecka i psychoanalizą kobiet. Zebrane w Imago psychoanalizy rozważania charakteryzują się niezwykłą różnorodnością i bogactwem wniosków, tym samym ukazując psychoanalizę jako efekt kolektywnych wysiłków wybitnych lekarzy, lekarek, intelektualistów i intelektualistek pierwszej połowy XX wieku.

In this book the author explores the notion of the human psyche (‘soul’) and its continuing usefulness at the background of the ongoing and always accelerating techno-scientific revolution. The main argument of the book follows the assumption that this revolution, while not necessarily being a threat to humankind, is often blind or ignorant as to its subject, ‘human being’.

In the first chapters, the reader is invited to reflect on the notion of ‘thinking’ as a phenomenon of consciousness that transcends the mere ‘having thoughts’. Relating thinking to consciousness requires reconsidering the phenomena of ‘inspiration’ and ‘ecstasy’. Provided that such a thing as ‘inspiration’ exists – and, how to deny its existence –, it makes sense to revise the solipsist or substantialist account often given of the human mind. The author defines inspiration as a ‘clairvoyance of one’s psyche’, and ecstasy as the experience of this clairvoyance.
Next, a case is made for synchronicity experiences as a key to a better understanding of the human psyche. While being enigmatic all throughout, synchronicity experiences, both on the individual and on the collective level, help overcome both subject/object and body/mind dualisms. It is not likely, though, that the solution they could offer will be readily accepted by (what is called) ‘science’ today, since it challenges one of the latter’s basic premises, ‘causality’. As a more concrete example of a condensed synchronicity experience, the author dwells on ‘physiognomy’.

In a final chapter, death and suffering are discussed as extreme  – and therefore relevant – experiences of consciousness. The author interprets death in terms of ‘enhanced subliminality’, and ‘suffering’ as unconscious resistance against maturing.
Generally, this book explores a psycho-philosophical tradition, rooting in Romantic thinking (from Schelling and Schopenhauer until Klages and Jung), which has hitherto been unjustly neglected, if not repressed, by mainstream materialism and positivism. It makes a strong case for an intellectual account of the soul.

This is an essay in French published in the collective volume, "L'antijudaisme: a l'epreuve de la philosophie et de la theologie," in which I analyse the 'resistance to Judaism' from the psychoanalytic point of view, by creating a confrontation between Otto Rank, on the on hand, and Jean-Francois Lyotard, on the other.

Ernest Becker described society as a symbolic action system designed to serve as a vehicle for earthly heroism. He advocates for a 'creative solution', which suggests that heroism can manifest itself objectively, through artworks. By further developing this idea (doubled by a Durkheimian perspective, and given that things can be people-like), I argue that some things can become heroic when being archived or put on display. Like heroic individuals, heroic objects are privileged things that distinguish themselves among stuff that goes unnoticed, while also being the central points of earthly heroic systems. Instead, heroic objects constrain the individuals to relate to them in a specific contemplative way, gaining cult value through exhibition. This used to be the case for relics and hero remains, but also the standard metre bar, which Marcel Duchamp cleverly ridiculed, underlining the contingent nature of cultural archived truths. Therefore, after broadly discussing heroic objects, I will narrow it down to the case of the standard metre and the readymades, further developing the idea of things becoming heroic objects.

Charla dictada por mí en El Café con Notas do Ateneo Mar de Arousa, el día 4 de octubre, como parte de un grupo de apreciación musical, donde quise mostrar el uso inicial que hizo Walt Disney del cine sonoro, que había inaugurado en 1927, "El Cantante de Jazz" ¿Se deben hacer los dibujos animados antes que la música o visceversa? Enigma que se queda sin contestar; pero, podemos disfrutar de la belleza de estos pequeños cortometrajes.

The term “diptych” designates visual artworks in two halves that are simultaneously united and separated by a hinging mechanism. This article explores the form’s adoption by narrative film through the double case study of Grindhouse (Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodríguez, 2007) and Tarantino’s Death Proof, one of Grindhouse’s constituent halves. Considering the diptych’s relevance both to the history of film exhibition and to the logics of revenge and masochism, I argue, first, that the diptych stages especially fruitful encounters between material and narrative concerns and, second, that as a narrative form, the diptych is particularly apt at making ethical paradox accessible.

Bu oluşturulan platform, öğrencilerin fikirlerini bürokratik ve ekonomik engellere takılmadan fanzinimizde, tartışma gruplarında, sunum-forum etkinliklerinde paylaşmaya fırsat sunma amacındadır. Şimdilik İstanbul Üniversitesi- Felsefe bölümünde hayat bulmaya çalışan bu platform ileriki hedeflerinde farklı disiplinleri ve okulları da etkileşim ağına katmak istemektedir. Akademik, entelektüel hayatı bireysel ve kariyer kaygısı ile değil, gündelik ve pratik yaşantımızın etkin bir parçası haline getirmeye çalışarak yaşamak istiyoruz. Bu bağlamda bize yardımcı olmanızı, fikirlerinizi, yazılarınızı -aşağıdaki ilkeleri kabul etmeniz halinde-bekliyoruz...
1-Din, dil, ırk, etnik gibi insani unsurlara hakaret, aşağılama, ötekileştirme temeline dayanarak bir entelektüel faaliyet yürütmemek!
2- Ortaya koyduğumuz fikirleri, argümanlar kullanarak, felsefi mantık kurallarını çerçevesinde oluşturmak!
3-Dili ve üslubu anlaşılma kaygısı güderek, anlaşılır, açıklayıcı ve açık olarak kullanmak. Ayrıca sloganik, ajitatif, demogojik retoriklere güvenerek herhangi bir fikri savunmamak!
4- Paylaşılacak fikrileri ve şahsi duygularımızı; akıl ile denetleyerek, doğru bilgiye ulaşma kaygısı ile oluşturmak!
5- Fikri faaliyetleri; doğru bilgi veya hakikate ulaşma kaygısı ile hareket eden kişilerin birbirlerinin fikirlerine saygı duyarak kolektif bir şekilde yürümek!

Статья посвящена развитию психологической герменевтики в рамках психоаналитической теории. С этой точки зрения рассматриваются подходы Карла Абрахама, Людвига Леви, Георга Гроддека, Карла Густава Юнга, Отто Ранка. В широкий оборот вводится ряд новых материалов.

The goal of this study is to explore the development of Otto Rank's (1884-1939) philosophy through his shifting conceptions of heroism. The focus is specifically on the notion of Artist as the Hero. The investigation is conducted by performing a comparative study of Rank's thought with that of his two great mentors: Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). The study employs various key concepts of Nietzsche – such as Apollonian / Dionysian dichotomy – to illustrate similarities and differences between Rank and Freud. Nietzsche acts here as a basis for comparison. This study argues that the psychologies of Rank and Freud – and their gradual divergence – can be seen as two different and unique answers to the challenge of nihilism, as expressed by Nietzsche with his conception of the Death of God and the cultural criticism that entails. It proposes that the notion of Artistic Hero in the philosophies of Rank, Freud and Nietzsche can be seen as a key concept, as they attempt to answer this dilemma. The study shows how the development of Rank's thought progresses from strict adherence to Freud's ideas to a point where he re-unites again with his early philosophical hero, Nietzsche, the artistic heroism acting as a connecting metaphor. The study elucidates how Rank uses Nietzsche to break away from Freud, and Freud, on the other hand, tries to perform a 'heroic escape' from Nietzsche's influence. In their quest for authenticity and new values, these three thinkers essentially create heroic myths of their own. Although the psychology of Freud and the philosophy of Nietzsche are well-known in both public and academic spheres, the same cannot be said about Rank, whose ideas still remain unknown and obscure to most. In its own small way, this study aims to rectify this situation by exploring 'Rankian' ideas. There is an added dynamism that comes from juxtaposing Rank's thought with Nietzsche and Freud's.

Otto Rosenfeld, conocido como el primer psicoanalista lego llamado Otto Rank, nació el 22 de abril de 1884 en la ciudad de Viena. Según el Diccionario Enciclopédico del Psique de Béla Székely, sus méritos más significativos fueron las investigaciones sobre el origen del mito y sus estudios sobre la creación artística y estética. Las contribuciones de Otto Rank en el campo de la psicología profunda, hacen que sea considerado unos de los principales psicoanalistas activos, afirmando que el “nacer es el trauma primitivo” y origen de toda angustia posterior. Basados en el modelo adleriano sabemos de la relevancia que tiene el orden psicológico en la serie de hermanos y en la configuración del estilo de la vida del sujeto. Rank ocupó el segundo lugar de una serie de tres hermanos. El hermano mayor tenía tres años más y su hermana menor vivió solo unos pocos meses

"A great relationship breaches the barriers of a lofty solitude, subdues is strict law, and throws a bridge from self-being to self-being across the abyss of dread of the universe."--Martin Buber, I and Thou

“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”—Charles Mingus

“I crave simplicity. The other I have.”—Otto Rank to Jessie Taft