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As I set out to discuss this remarkable work of Gori's I get the impression that I have taken on a task which in a certain sense is paradoxical, for what I am required to do is to write a review of a review, as it were.
For the work did indeed read like a review to me. Let me say at once that this does not in any way belittle the fruit of Gori's labours; on the contrary, since the book consists of nothing less than an analysis of all Freud's works of metapsychological interest, it seems, from the outset, to be an almost superhuman task. And Gori has faced this Herculean task with the utmost integrity. This is seldom found in a field in which precisely the laboriousness of studying all of Freud's thought has led, and continues to lead easily to parts of it being isolated and subjected to the most varied (even though as a whole monotonous) criticism outside the general context. This is because the aspiration to achieve the highest degree of “originality” with the least effort sets in motion, together with the tendency to avoid confronting the whole Freudian corpus, a series of rationalisations ranging from simplistic (although apparently sophisticated) “scientistic” critiques, to the trite arguments of would-be scientists, which is what certain philosophers of science are. At the other extreme, the high priests of the object relationship demand that emphasis be laid on the relational aspects, after having scotomised their presence in Freud's metapsychological writings (see for example the concept of Affektbetrag which belongs to the economic register and which has been demonised both by the first and the second group of critics).
Such “critical conclusions” are generally passed off as the fruit of a close and thorough study and re-elaboration of Freud's works, and are even deemed fit ad usum discentis. For learners, this last apsect turns out to be a sort of “incitement to crime”, which means not only that they believe they can ignore the Founding Father, but that they