Through a Glass Darkly: A Discussion of “The Analyst’s Necessary Nonsovereignty and the Generative Power of the Negative”

Abstract

I reflect on Jade McGleughlin’s meditation on “The Analyst’s Necessary Nonsovereignty and the Generative Power of the Negative,” (this issue) with appreciation for her focus on the non-symbolizable in psychoanalysis and for her interdisciplinary integrations. I resonate with her observations of paradoxes in Bionian Field theory, am moved by her innovative clinical narrative and value her reflections on Agnes Martin’s work. I question her equation of sovereignty with subjectivity, query the implication that to surveil is to foreclose, ask for clarification on her construal of psychoanalytic transformation, and muse on the risk of misrepresentation as we venture away from the representable. I take up McGleughlin’s invitation to dialogue in the hope that such conversation will contribute to expanded inquiry into the multiple pathways toward psychoanalytic generativity.

This article refers to:

The Analyst’s Necessary Nonsovereignty and the Generative Power of the Negative

View responses to this article:

The Impossibility of Meaning: Joining and Rejoining: Reply to Cooney, Ferro, and Stern

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Amy Schwartz Cooney

Amy Schwartz Cooney, Ph.D., is on faculty at the NYU Post-Doctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy where she teaches Foundations of Relational Psychoanalysis. She is on the Board at The National Institute of Psychotherapies, is Faculty/Supervisor in the National Training Program, and chairs the NIP Annual Conference. She is also Faculty/Supervisor and Member of the Executive Committee at the Stephen Mitchel Center, Co–Chair of the IARPP Colloquium Series, and is Associate Editor and Editor Elect 2021 of Psychoanalytic Dialogues. Her most recent work focuses on Vitalization in Psychoanalysis. She is in private practice in NYC.