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When Freud discovered the multiple connections and affiliations that link the elements of memory in the unconscious, he located the common psychological source of dreaming and creative inspiration. But the identification of this common origin did not establish a method for tracing the private and apparently bizarre imagery of a dream as it is transformed step by step into a polished and coherent work of art or literature. An important modification of traditional psychoanalytic dream theory has made such detailed analysis possible. This paper will show how the work of the artist carries forward an integrative process already begun in the construction of the dream.
Freud drew a sharp distinction between the relatively unmodified primary process activity that occurs in dreaming and the more complex reprocessing that takes place under the direction of the ego during the creative process. His thoughts on this topic are not easy to summarize (Spector, 1972), but he seems to have attributed two special abilities to the ego of the creative person (Freud, 1900, 1908, 1917). One of these was an exceptional receptivity to the products of unconscious mental activity; the other an unusual talent for reshaping these products into an aesthetically pleasing form. As Freud saw it, the creative act begins with the generation by the primary process of compromise formations derived from important unconscious conflicts. The ego sorts and selects these clusters according to their potential for formal organization and elaboration, then executes the procedures necessary to produce the finished object.
The author is Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, George Washington University, and is a member of the faculty at the Washington School of Psychiatry.