Experiences and considerations of a “reader” of psychoanalysis(*)

Today's meeting between the editorial board and the “readers” of the board of readers of the Rivista di Psicoanalisi, made possible through the efforts of Alberto Semi, was to have, in my view, first and foremost a practical purpose. The aim was not to investigate the role of psychoanalytic writing in the emotional life and phantasy of the psychoanalyst, perhaps by invoking Derrida. Nor was it to discuss and formulate a standard of scientific rigor for psychoanalysis, with an appeal to some updated thesis of epistemology. My intention was, to have an open discussion about our experience as “readers”, that is individuals who have agreed to perform an anonymous, largely unrecognized task on a text written by an equally anonymous author. When I speak of the “reader” it is to this figure that I refer and not to the imaginary addressee of the text or to any particular living reader. My starting point will be the specific experience of this reader, who must formulate and express an opinion, and whose tasks are at once well- and ill-defined. This should give a pragmatic orientation to what I have to say. The overall aim should be one of improvement. But in which direction? One might be that of defining this function, determining the existence and efficacy of generally acceptable evaluative instruments and criteria, clarifying the way evaluations concerning each contribution