Response to ‘“Anal” and “Sexual”‘

Enthusiasm for the anal stage is rare among psychoanalytic theorists. They typically view it as an artifact: something that needs to be transcended, and whose value is dependent on the extent to which it can be sublimated beyond recognition. Andreas-Salomé is remarkable in her conceptualization of the anal stage not as a foil to culture, but as the mother of the libido, on which the existence of self and other depends. In this light, anality appears less antisocial and more generative; a core psychoanalytic concept that's pivotal to understanding the development of subjectivity and culture.

There's a delightful moment in the essay where, arguing that the anal stage has been unjustly maligned, Andreas-Salomé draws an analogy to Cinderella. Speaking about an inherent bond between the abject and the ideal, she says:

There are things in sexual life that seem not to belong to this circle, and which must instead play the role of Cinderella in relation to her more respected sisters (who represent the dignity and splendor of their house) - but for these things, too, the great hour may yet arrive when the fairy godmother's golden carriage bears them off to an even more splendid, even more dignified realm where a crown awaits. (p. 34)

‘Cinderella’ is largely a tale about transformation. Dirty becomes clean, poor becomes rich, debased becomes elevated. Thus, it would be easy to read it as a case for anal sublimation, where resolution is achieved when the ash-girl ultimately becomes a princess. But in the fairy tale as well as in Andreas-Salomé's view, anality never really disappears or is overcome. The crux of the story is that Cinderella's coach will eventually turn back into a pumpkin at midnight, and the prince will accept her in her rags. So, the point is not that Cinderella must become idealized, but that she must return to her abject origins. The moral has to do with the inherent value of what has been repudiated.

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