Fwd: Fishing with Fidel

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Tue Jun 27 11:24:49 PDT 2000


Carrol Cox wrote:


>There is obviously a deep generalized unconscious human need to bite
>one's fingernails, only it is repressed in those who don't bite
>their fingernails
>and instead is expressed by a tendency to curl one's toes while thinking.
>
>Who can say nay to this?
>
>And those who do not bite their fingernails but deny curling their toes
>while thinking are obviously in deep denial.

This is almost too silly to respond to, but I can't resist. Carrol, do you know anything at all about psychoanalytic technique? You listen carefully to what people say and watch what they do and scrutinize that evidence for clues about unconscious fears and desires. Ditto with texts, for the literary application. You don't assert preposterous relations like this.

I think your denunciations of Freud are a fascinating symptom, but I don't know you well enough to know what they're a symptom of.

Doug



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