The Dreams of Mabel Dodge; Diary of an Analysis with Smith Ely Jelliffe
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The Dreams of Mabel Dodge “History comes alive, as we are drawn into the dream life of Mabel Dodge, an articulate woman who played a significant role in the history of psycho- analysis in America. It is 1916 and we listen as she recounts dreams and associations to her analyst, Smith Ely Jelliffe, and he responds. Through impeccable scholarship and priceless historical documentation, Patricia Everett contextualizes a psychoanalytic adventure. Unconscious meets con- scious, patient meets analyst, and reader meets author, as this fascinating story unfolds. Patricia Everett gives us privileged access to their exciting, spirited, even thrilling interplay as they explore a realm of dreams.” — Sandra Buechler, PhD, Training and Supervising Analyst at the William Alanson White Institute, author of Psychoanalytic Approaches to Problems in Living (Routledge, 2019) “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I’d find it hard to believe that such a book actually exists. Everett presents us with the dreams of Mabel Dodge, recorded during her analysis with Smith Ely Jelliffe, one of the most influ- ential and creative of the first American psychoanalysts. We are whisked, as if by a time machine, deep into a lost world of a century ago. And what is revealed is the inner life of an extraordinary woman, the contours of the American avant-garde, of which she was a central figure, and the workings of psychoanalysis in an early, crucial period of its history.” —James William Anderson, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University In 1916, salon host Mabel Dodge entered psychoanalysis with Smith Ely Jelliffe in New York, recording 142 dreams during her six-month treat- ment. Her dreams, as well as Jelliffe’s handwritten notes from her analytic sessions, provide an unusual and virtually unprecedented access to one woman’s dream life and to the private process of psychoanalysis and its ex- ploration of the unconscious. Through Dodge’s dreams—considered together with Jelliffe’s notes, annotations drawn from her memoirs and unpublished writings, and correspondence between Dodge and Jelliffe during the course of her treatment—the reader becomes immersed in the workings of Dodge’s heart and mind, as well as the larger cultural embrace of psychoanalysis and its world- shattering views. Jelliffe’s notes provide a rare glimpse into the pro- cess of dream analysis in an early psychoanalytic treatment, illuminating how he and Dodge often embarked upon an examination of each element of the dream as they explored associations to such details as color and person- alities from her childhood. The dreams, with their extensive annotations, provide compelling and original material that deepens knowledge about the early practice of psy- choanalysis in the United States, this period in cultural history, and Dodge’s own intricately examined life. This book will be of great interest to psycho- analysts in clinical practice, as well as scholars of the history of psychoanal- ysis and students of dreams. Patricia R. Everett is a psychologist in private practice in Amherst, Massachusetts and the author of Corresponding Lives: Mabel Dodge Luhan, A.A. Brill, and the Psychoanalytic Adventure in America (Karnac, 2016) and A History of Having a Great Many Times Not Continued to be Friends: The Correspondence Between Mabel Dodge and Gertrude Stein, 1911–1934 (University of New Mexico Press, 1996). Since 1983, she has researched the Mabel Dodge Luhan archives at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. The History of Psychoanalysis Series Series Editors Professor Brett Kahr and Professor Peter L. Rudnytsky This series seeks to present outstanding new books that illuminate any as- pect of the history of psychoanalysis from its earliest days to the present, and to reintroduce classic texts to contemporary readers. Other titles in the series: What is this Professor Freud Like? A Diary of an Analysis with Historical Comments Edited by Anna Koellreuter Corresponding Lives Mabel Dodge Luhan, A.A. Brill, and the Psychoanalytic Adventure in America Patricia R. Everett A Forgotten Freudian The Passion of Karl Stern Daniel Burston The Skin-Ego A New Translation by Naomi Segal Didier Anzieu Karl Abraham Life and Work, a Biography Anna Bentinck van Schoonheten The Freudian Orient Early Psychoanalysis, Anti-Semitic Challenge, and the Vicissitudes of Orientalist Discourse Frank F. Scherer For further information about this series please visit https://www.routledge. com/The-History-of-Psychoanalysis-Series/book-series/KARNHIPSY The Dreams of Mabel Dodge Diary of an Analysis with Smith Ely Jelliffe Patricia R. Everett First published 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Patricia Everett The right of Patricia Everett to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-0-367-74933-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-74932-3 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-16041-0 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by codeMantra To Zael and Django, for giving me more than I ever could have dreamed of To Gary, for answering an undreamt dream And to Paul, for teaching me about play, and the deep pleasures of dreams Contents Acknowledgments xi Series editor’s foreword xiii Prelude xxii PAUL LIPPMANN Author’s preface xxv List of abbreviations xxix 1 Mabel Dodge 1 Childhood, marriages, and salons 1 Mabel Dodge’s first contact with Smith Ely Jelliffe 3 2 Smith Ely Jelliffe 5 Childhood 5 Education and first love 8 Beginning medical practice and turn to neurology and psychiatry 11 Conversion to psychoanalysis 13 Jelliffe’s patients 14 Psychoanalytic Review 20 “Technique of Psychoanalysis” papers 22 Diseases of the Nervous System 23 3 Mabel Dodge in psychoanalysis with Smith Ely Jelliffe 27 Jelliffe’s “Technique” papers and Dodge’s analysis 27 Jelliffe’s approach to psychoanalysis and dream interpretation, as presented in Diseases of the Nervous System 30 Mabel Dodge in analysis with Jelliffe 31 Mabel Dodge on dream interpretation 45 The Dreams of Mabel Dodge 46 x Contents 4 Cast of characters 50 5 The Dreams of Mabel Dodge 67 A note on how to approach the dreams 67 Appendices 243 Appendix A: Mabel Dodge, “Mabel Dodge Writes About the Unconscious”: The New York Journal, 1917 (Excerpted) 244 Appendix B: Mabel Dodge, “A Game of Cards—Hearts” Psychoanalytic Review, 1918 (vol. 5, pp. 442–444): Reprinted with the permission of Guilford Press 246 References 249 Index 253 Acknowledgments I first read Mabel Dodge’s dreams in 1989, an impossibly rich and intimate encounter with her archives at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, a discovery made even more startling by her psychoanalyst Smith Ely Jelliffe’s notes from her sessions describing her dream associations. I am forever grateful to Patricia Willis, then curator of American literature at the library, for granting me early access to these extraordinary documents. This book would never have appeared in print if Peter Rudnytsky had not shown exquisite appreciation for the rareness of such historical material, and his subsequent careful reading and wise guidance. I am enormously grateful to him for ushering me through. In addition to introducing me to Peter, James Anderson’s contribution to this project is immeasurable, as his immense curiosity and enthusiasm about Mabel Dodge’s early contribu- tions to psychoanalytic history through her dreams and letters propelled me further. As editor, he was the first to publish some of Dodge’s dreams inThe Annual of Psychoanalysis in 2015. The late John Burnham expressed a faith in me that surprised and emboldened me. The late Bruce Kellner was the earliest supporter of my research on Mabel Dodge, teaching me the grace and beauty of mentorship, how doors can open if you ask. At the Beinecke Library, Nancy Kuhl has always been a brilliant resource with her unfailing energy and beyond generous support. She remains a reason to continually return to the library for more research. I greatly ap- preciate the staff at the Beinecke who played such a significant role in mak- ing the archives available, as well as the staff at the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress who facilitated access to the Jelliffe papers. Paul Lippmann took the manuscript of this book with him to Truro over a decade of summers ago and devoted precious time to reading it and then writing an associative and poetic response. As a teacher about dreams, Paul is a master of play and passion. If he loves something you’ve done, you for- ever have his gaze. I cherish the places we have gone together and still have much to learn from his curiosity and irreverence. xii Acknowledgments Julie Westcott was the first to read an early version of this book in 2008 and leave me an expansive phone message (that I luckily had the forethought to write down) confirming that the dreams were a treasure, and created a captivating world when read with their annotations.