Time, Space and Phantasy

Time, Space, and Phantasy examines the connections between time, space, phantasy and sexuality in clinical practice. It explores the subtleties of the encounter between patient and analyst, addressing how aspects of the patient's unconscious past are actualised in the present, producing new meanings that can be re-translated to the past.


Perelberg's analysis of Freud's Multi-dimensional model of temporality suggests that he always viewed the constitution of the individual as non-linear. In Freud's formulations, the individual is decentred and ruled by different temporalities, most of which escape their consciousness. Perelberg identifies the similarities between this and Einstein's theory of relativity which states that rather than being absolute, time depends on the relative position and speed of the observing individual suggesting that rather than being a reality, time is an abstraction, connecting objects and events.


Throughout this text, Perelberg draws together connections between time, mental space, and phantasy showing how time is constantly reshaped in the light of new events and experiences. This book will be of interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, psychologists, and social workers.

Part I: Theory and Clinical Practice. Time and Space in Psychoanalysis and Anthropology. Après Coup and Unconscious Phantasy. The Oracles in Dreams: The Past and the Future in the Present. "To Be Or Not To Be" - Here: A Woman's Denial of Time and Memory. Identity and Identification in the Analysis of a Violent Young Man. Full and Empty Spaces in the Analytic Process. Après Coup and the Controversial Discussions. Time and Space in Psychoanalytic Listening. Part II: Applications. Jozef, Time and Memory in One Hundred Years of Solitude. "What Can You Possibly Learn From Babies?" The Infant and the Infantile.