A Silent Antipode: The Making and Breaking of Psychoanalyst Wilhelm Stekel.

Abstract

Wilhelm Stekel, one of Freud's earliest followers , was expelled from the psychoanalytic movement in 1912 ostensibly because he did not know how to behave himself. Although he remained active as a psychoanalyst, his post-1912 work was mostly neglected, and consequently his historic import is seriously undervalued. The author reviews recent literature, reexamines the Freud-Stekel break, and focuses on Stekel's role as silent antipode. Freud's reference to an unnamed individual in his 1907 Gradiva paper (S. Freud, 1907/1959b) - commonly believed to be Jung - is now identified as Stekel. This not - unimportant correction of the historical record begins the exploration of a hitherto-undocumented antagonistic dialogue between Stekel and Freud.

The art of imitation: Wilhelm Stekel's Lehrjahre

“…The discussion of the autobiographical position therefore makes it clear that, in order to become an analyst, Stekel strongly identifi ed with Freud and followed him in detail (see Bos, 2003, for additional evidence to support this claim). However, his identifi cation with Freud's style is only the fi rst step in the transformation of his identity.…”