FREUD'S ORIENT EARLY PSYCHOANALYSIS, "ANTI-SEMITIC CHALLENGE", AND THE VICISSITUDES OF ORIENTALIST DISCOURSE FRANK F. SCHERER A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN SOCIAL & POLITICAL THOUGHT YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO OCTOBER 2010 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-80539-8 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-80539-8 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extra its substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada Abstract This doctoral dissertation consists of a twofold inquiry: the Orientalism of psychoanalysis and the psychoanalysis of Orientalism - bringing into conversation Sigmund Freud and Edward Said and, thereby, the founding texts of psychoanalysis and postcolonial studies. The immediate object of this study being the "Freudian Orient", we begin by tracing the strong Orientalist presence in Freud's writings with examples from his early and mature correspondence, his diaries, and his psychological works. Following these examples of "manifest" Orientalism, we will pursue more "latent" meanings by engaging two of Freud's favorite metaphors, archaeology and travel. Whereas the former soon uncovers a veritable porta Orientis, conducting to an external Orient, the latter reveals an interna­ lized Orient traversed by Jewishness, anti-Semitism and the Bible. Unveiling the figure of Moses shows how Freud's strategy of resisting anti-Semitic Orientalist discourse by way of universalist reversal is, however, only partially successful where it appears unable to extricate itself from the historical assumptions of that discourse. Nonetheless, it is the revolutionary concept of the unstable subject posited by psychoanalysis which enables a more nuanced understanding of the vicissitudes of Freud's Orientalist discourse. iv In memory of my father Helmut Horst Wilhelm Scherer (1928-1997) v Acknowledgements Among the many people to whom I am grateful for assisting with or contributing in some form to this doctoral dissertation, there are a few who merit special recognition. At York University, John O'Neill taught me about staking one's independence; Paul Antze drove home the English Freud; Deborah Britzman emphasized the complexities of "difficult knowledge"; Jay Goulding always gave his unconditional support; Aparna Mishra Tare underlined the productivity of the third space; Patrick Taylor first encouraged me to read Said's Orientalism; Susan Ingram provided a welcoming stage at the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies (CCGES) to test my work; and Judith Hawley, the mother of our Social and Political Thought-Program, to whom I owe several institutional lives, as well as Pier Luigi Binda, University of Regina, who got me there in the first place. I also want to thank colleagues and co-students who took an interest in my work such as Karl Dalquist, Paul Brienza, Christiaan Beyers and many others. Much appreciated were the insightful discussions I had with Rabbi Aaron Flanzraich of Beth Shalom Synagogue, Toronto. Abroad, for their inspiring support I want to thank Michael Molnar and Ivan Ward of the London Freud Museum, UK; Mgr. Marie Supova, chairperson of the Sigmund-Freud- Society, Pfibor, Czech Rep.; Mgr. Christian Huber, former head of archives at the Vienna Freud Museum, Austria; Mott Linn, the coordinator of archives at Clark University, Worcester, USA; Mohammad Tamgidi, sociologist at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, USA; David Biale, University of California at Davis, USA; Birgit Schaebler of Martin-Luther University, Halle, Germany; translators John Underwood, London, UK; Sun Feiyu at the University of Beijing, PR of China; Marta Marin-Domine, Barcelona, Spain; Sophie Asperger, Vienna, Austria; Miroslav Privitivy, Pfibor, Czech Rep.; Milan Krankus at the University of Bratislava, Slovakia; and, not to be forgotten, my very best friend and advisor, Arabist and Egyptologist, Mgr. Lorenz Brands, Munster, Germany. Toronto - London - Wien - Pfibor, 2001-2010 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract iv In Memoriam v Acknowledgements vi Table of Contents vii-viii 1. Introduction: Sigmund Freud, Indy Jones, and the Far East 1 1.1 Psychoanalysis, Jewishness, Anti-Semitism 7 1.2 Strengths and Strains of Orientalism 15 1.3 The Vicissitudes of Orientalist Discourse: Three Doubled Concepts 24 1.4 Translating Psychoanalysis 38 2. Oriental(ist) Scenes 48 2.1 Early Letters from the Morgenland 49 2.2 The Cure of the Souls and the East 65 2.3 Late Diaries on the Orient Express 88 3. The Archaeological Sphere of Imagination 95 3.1 ArchaeOrientalism 100 3.2 Layers of Self and Other 111 3.3 West-Eastern Binaries 117 3.4 The Depth of Psychology 124 3.5 Moses Unveiled 133 4. Traveling the "Via Regia" 142 4.1 In America: An Orientation 145 4.2 Out of Egypt: AntiSemitic Antiquities 148 4.3 Across Europe: TenTative Tableaux 151 4.4 Mapping Freud: A Bibleography 174 5. Conclusion: Four Theses 185 6. Appendix 189 6.1 Freud's "Diwan" 190 6.2 Freud's Archaeology in citation 191 6.3 Freud's "Via Regia" translated 198 6.4 Freud's "Via Regia" (EC-map) 199 6.5 Freud's letter to Emil Fluss (1872) 200 vii 7. Bibliography 201 7.1 Primary Sources (English/Sis) 201 7.2 Primary Sources (English/non-SiT) 204 7.3 Primary Sources (German/GFF) 205 7.4 Primary Sources (German/non-GIF) 207 7.5 Primary Sources (various languages) 208 7.6 Secondary Sources (various languages) 209 8. Addendum 242 viii 1. Introduction: Sigmund Freud, Indy Jones, and the Far East In the fall of 1909 Sigmund Freud crossed the North-Atlantic for the first time to participate in the celebrations surrounding the twentieth anniversary of Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts. Invited by its president, Dr. Stanley Hall, and organized by the psychology department, Freud's participation was quite substantial giving five lectures on psychoanalysis which eventually became his most widely read publication. Speaking on five consecutive days (Tuesday, September 7th to Saturday, the 11th), Freud decided to touch in his remaining lecture on the question of Occident and Orient in the context of race, sexuality, and gender. Clark University's bicentennial celebrations included a very busy conference program extending over several weeks and involving almost all of its departments. The psychology conference was followed by similar events. One of these, this time arranged by the department of history, brought together a number of American as well as foreign Orientalists under the heading of China and the Far East. Scheduled to begin on Monday, September 13 , the conference was strongly informed by the colonial perspectives of a newly emerging empire as it dealt - one by one - with "India", "The Philippines", "Korea", "Hawaii", "Japan", and "China". Keynote-speaker was the reputed indologist Dr. John P. "Indy" Jones whose address discussed "The Present Situation in India". Possibly encouraged by mingling with such a prominent assembly of Orientalists, or perhaps even inspired by the attendance of two visiting scholars from Japan, Dr. Sakyo Kanda and Dr. Kikoso Kakise, Sigmund Freud seemed comfortable enough to venture himself into the "Far East" in his final (Saturday) lecture. 1 PRDPDRTIDN STARTLING Dr.Freud on Race Suicide Question PROGRAM AT CLARK IS CONTINUED Notable Men at the University Exercises That the race suicide question is of startling proportions and that the occ­ idental countries will sooner or later have to give way to the oriental countries, be­ cause of a greater population of the lat­ ter countries, were points made mention of in a lecture given yesterday forenoon under the department of psychology by Dr. Sigmund Freud of Vienna, expert in psychiatry, at the Clark university cen­ tennial exercises. His reference to the race suicide ques­ tion was made during mention of the laws of all western nations with re­ spect to the sex question which were brought about a good deal by the fact that a large faction of women, and worst of all, the best and cultured women, were not bearing children. He said that sooner or later this would mean a good advan­ tage for Japan and China over the occ- dental countries, as in those countries women were performing the functions of motherhood, twofold to what they were in western countries.