ÉTUDES FREUDIENNES

Études Freudiennes is a journal launched in 1969 by Conrad Stein, with Lucio Covello as recording secretary and Julien Bigras as Canadian correspondent (Stein was the French correspondent for the Canadian journal Interprétation ). Its birth resulted from a schism in the editorial board of L'inconscient, on which Stein was a key figure, along with Piera Aulagnier-Spairani (editor in chief) and Jean Clavreul. According to their last editorial (no. 8, October 1968), "The editors have not been able to agree about the orientation appropriate for a review of psychoanalysis, nor on the part they would like it to play."

The first issue ofÉtudes Freudiennes, "Du côte du psychanalyste" (with the psychoanalyst), came out in November 1969. The first issue of Topique, "La formation du psychanalyst" (training the analyst), came out at the same time, with an announcement by Piera Aulagnier of the creation of a new psychoanalytic association: the Quatrième groupe, Organisation psychanalytique de langue française (Fourth Group, Francophone Psychoanalytic Organization).

Stein's orientation is apparent in his short introduction to "Le patient inconnu" (The unknown patient) by Theodor Reik. He presents this text as being about "a kind of truth, unconnected with any school, about psychoanalysis." This sums up what became the spirit of the journal.

Études Freudiennes is open to all tendencies in Freudian psychoanalysis, as long as authors show a serious commitment to psychoanalysis, are creative, and write well. It takes up questions relating to the training of psychoanalysts, their course of studies, and their supervision (nos. 1-2 and 31). Other areas of focus are the history of ideas (Sigmund Freud, Sándor Ferenczi, Jacques Lacan), the history of concepts (interpretation, femininity, transference love), and the practice of psychoanalysis in relation to its principles and the exigencies inherent in Freudian methodology.

From May 1982 (nos. 19-20) to September 1987 (no. 29), each issue gave rise to "study days," when articles were discussed in the presence of their authors. Another special feature ofÉtudes Freudiennes has been the ongoing scientific debates, parallel to the published essays, in which experienced psychoanalysts associated with the review since its beginnings have encounters with younger colleagues invited to expound their points of view independently of ties to any organization and without fear of censure. This feature has added to its reputation in France and abroad, where some numbers have been translated (Italy, Germany, Brazil).

With a history of more than thirty years,Études Freudiennes has encountered its share of obstacles. Yet its flexibility in matters relating to the mind has helped it to overcome them.

DaniÈle Brun

See also: France.

Bibliography

Bataille, Laurence. (1985). D'une pratique.Études Freudiennes, 25, 7-30.

Bauchau, Henry. (1984). La connivence des temps.Études Freudiennes, 23, 9-20.

Perrier, François. (1994). Thanatol. In his La chaussée d'Antin (pp. 537-568). Paris: Albin Michel. (Originally published 1974)

Reik, Theodor. (1969). Le patient inconnu.Études Freudiennes, 1-2, 7-38.

Stein, Conrad. (1994). La traversée du tragique en psychanalyse.Études Freudiennes, 35, 33-48.

Trilling, Jacques. (1973). James Joyce ou l'écriture matricide. Études Freudiennes, 7-8, 7-70.