Preface

As this issue of American Imago goes to press, the dogs of war have been unleashed, and we all stand transfixed by the horror of September 11, 2001 and the uncertainty of what is to come. Our sympathy goes out to those in New York and elsewhere touched by the tragedy, and our gratitude to the colleagues around the world who have expressed their concern. As Freud (1927) has written, “the voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest till it has gained a hearing” (53). Let us affirm our faith in the power of logos by carrying on with our work.

The term “parameters” was introduced into psychoanalysis by Kurt Eissler (1953) in a famous paper in which he sought to define the deviations from classical technique that could be temporarily permitted with exceptionally difficult patients. Eissler's paper is now dated, but it had an enduring influence; and I have borrowed his term in order to organize this issue around the larger question of what are the limits or boundaries of psychoanalysis, especially when it is conceived as a scientific enterprise.

Perry Meisel sets the stage by boldly arguing that Freud is above all a writer and that it is thus irrelevant to try to evaluate the truth of his concepts. Examining the role played by the trope of chiasmus both in Freud's texts and in his career, Meisel traces Freud's reliance on the principle of inertia underlying the death drive to Fechner; the eludication of parallels between Fechner and Pater as precursors to Freud in turn opens up the even more wide-ranging issues suggested by Meisel's title, “Psychoanalysis and Aestheticism.”

A surprising number of people have told me that they have a special affection for American Imago as the journal in which they first appeared in print. I am happy to continue the tradition of welcoming new talent in these pages by publishing James Keeley's “Subliminal Promptings: Psychoanalytic Theory