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Ritual and Spontaneity in the Psychoanalytic Process: A Dialectical-Constructivist View brings together more than two decades of work by the contemporary American psychoanalyst, Irwin Z. Hoffman. The importance ascribed to Hoffman's work by the psychoanalytic community is reflected in the extensive discussion engendered by the publication of this book (Benjamin 1999; Friedman 1999; Fritsch 2000; Margulies 1999; Richards 1999; Sass 1999; Skolnikoff 2000; Slavin 2001; Stein 2001; Stern 2001).
The aim of this essay is to examine the meaning of Hoffman's work for the notion of tradition in the psychoanalytic context. Hoffman's book provides an especially interesting opportunity to deal with this matter because he was one of the creators of “two-person psychology” (Hoffman 1983; Hoffman 1991). This theoretical and therapeutic position is considered revolutionary by many of its proponents, some of whom even go as far as to call it a “paradigm shift” and to describe it as a significant departure from the principles of traditional psychoanalysis (e.g., Mitchell 1988; Hoffman 1991; Stolorow and Atwood 1994).
According to my reading, Hoffman is much more traditional than revolutionary. To understand why this is so, it is necessary to distinguish between several different uses of the term “tradition.” One common way to regard it is with deep appreciation as an object of reverence, a source of absolute obligations and aspirations that shape the course of one's life. Another is to regard it critically as an external body of knowledge from which the subject has already become somewhat distanced. Indeed, everyday usage of the term “tradition” often connects it with a variety of rituals and customs, a sort of folklore, which may