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Norman Kelman vividly and provocatively introduced his thesis—that much of present analytic thought is neglectful of its more vital past, and, in its embrace of the new, unaware of how much has been “watered down” into a “thin soup” by a denial of its roots in concrete reality and the human body.
As if illustrating his own connection and respect for this past, Kelman related a dream he had while in analysis with Karen Horney. In the dream, he became aware of an ominous “dark, shrouded figure” like those on German war posters with the caption, “The enemy is listening.” Kelman felt he was facing Death at that moment. Horney's interpretation, which to Kelman seemed to have an exclusively intrapsychic focus, was that he was facing not Death, but his own “deadness.” For him, this missed the power, passion, and concreteness of the dream's meaning—it was “thin soup.” Kelman's view was borne out several months later when, no longer in analysis with Horney, he noticed her jaundice and persuaded her to consult a doctor who diagnosed her fatal illness. Kelman stated that Horney's apparent denial of her own illness was reflected in her interpretation of his dream. He contrasted her denial with Freud's notion of the death instinct, from which he believes post-Freudian thinking has too far separated itself. However, he acknowledged the “important voice” of the feminist movement, which helped bring Lacan to the fore, and noted the resemblance between his own notion of the analyst as “technician”—someone proficient in listening to and reflecting on patient's stories—and the post-Structuralist focus on narrative. Nonetheless, he feels that this focus can be “artificial.” He contrasted it with his simpler, more concrete belief that the best analytic training is having been told stories as a child, which develops the capacity for “reverie and listening.” This attitude, he believes, is likely to keep the analyst more focused on the physical and concrete.
Again, by way of illustration, Ke