Bi-ocularity for the internal reference frame of the psychoanalyst

This article explains the concept of bi-ocularity which was developed by Dana Birksted-Breen. She advocates keeping two perspectives in mind, one of the here-and-now of the transference, the other of « something else, not yet formed or thought ». The latter requires the reverie of the analyst. Birksted-Breen emphasizes the monitoring of multiplicity, ambiguity and negative capability as part and parcel of a genuine psychoanalysis. The concept of bi-ocularity is illustrated by the literary example of the novel Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald (2001).