Cathecting the Oedipal object after mourning the loss of primary narcissism is not self-evident, as is shown by the ease with which certain defensive narcissistic withdrawals take place. While on the one hand it is difficult to abandon narcissistic positions, on the other, the object, recalcitrant to the demands of the ego, regularly arouses disappointment and anger. It is this zone of sometimes violent conflict between narcissistic cathexis and Oedipal cathexis of the object, with its variations, that is explored in this paper. Whereas perverse impulses aim to deny the existence of the object, idealization in the transference attempts to restore the relationship with the narcissistic object, while paranoid and melancholic organizations each ensure its preservation in their own way. The analytic situation, however, seems to offer prospects for accomplishing this mourning of primary narcissism, owing to the attraction of the Oedipal processuality that underlies it.