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The transference is a phenomenon in which subject and psycho-analyst are both included. To divide it in terms of transference and countertransference—however bold, however confident what is said on this them may be—is never more than a way of avoiding the essence of the matter. (Lacan, 1964/1981, Seminar XI, p. 231)
Mitchell Wilson is a writer, which is not so for all psychoanalysts who write. His care for the grace and rhythm of the voice, for the music of the prose, expresses a desire not only to convey his argument but to evoke desire in the reader. The desire to affect the desire of the reader arises implicitly—structurally—whenever one puts pen to paper. Even the most dry and scientific writing presumes a desire to know in the reader. Wilson's writing is not dry and scientific. It is lively writing. The reader is aroused by the play of language not only by the presentation of ideas, not only by the desire to know but the desire to know the other, the author. The presence of the authorial voice and care for its effects on the other are essential elements of this important and evocative book as is the awareness and responsibility inherent in arousing the desire of the other.
How the writer seeks to arouse desire in the reader is a topic parallel to Wilson's main topic: How the speech of the analyst is implicated in the interplay of desire in psychoanalytic treatment. Just as there are differences in writing that affect the mode of reading, there are differences in speech that affect both listening and hearing and the relationship between the two. This has profound implications for the ethical responsibility of analytic praxis.
That the analyst is responsible for, and should be cognizant of, how the analytic discourse is affecting the analysand and especially how the interest of the analyst arouses desire in the analysand has of course been noted since Freud's “Observations on Transference-Love” (1915). Wilson's work might be seen as an extended reflection on this re