Glossary1

Abject: The Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism defines abject as “the state of being cast off”. It implies degradation: it is that which inherently disturbs conventional identity and cultural concepts. Kristeva has suggested that abject is “the place where meaning collapses… . It lies outside, beyond the set, and does not seem to agree to the latter’s rules of the game. And yet, from its place of banishment, the abject does not cease challenging its master” (Kristeva, 1982, p. 2).

Après-coup (descriptive and dynamic): I have suggested a differentiation between the notion of descriptive après-coup and the concept of dynamic après-coup. Descriptive après-coup as used in colloquial psycho-analysis simply means retrospective signification. Dynamic après-coup, on the other hand, includes different notions of temporality, such as fixation, regression, repetition compulsion and the return of the repressed. These different notions of time refer to the heterochrony in psycho-analysis (Green, 2002b). Furthermore, dynamic après-coup is connected to a network of concepts such as trauma, castration and infantile sexuality, giving a specific meaning to the whole body of Freud’s theory (Perelberg, 2006). It is the linkage of après-coup to this network of concepts that gives it a metapsychological dimension. It is the temporality of après-coup, establishing the links between the here and now and there and then, that marks the passage from a dyadic to a triadic structure in an analysis (Perelberg, 2013b, p. 581).

“Child Is Being Beaten, A”: Freud has suggested that the phantasy a child is being beaten is composed of three phases: The scene of the first phase appears as “The father beats the child” (A child is being beaten). The second phase, Freud indicates, is unconscious and is a construction of the transference. It appears as “I [girl] am beaten by my father”, where the author occupies the place of the beaten child of the first scene. The third phase – wh