A small, belated point. Robert Galatzer-Levy noted the
oddness of Masson's part ing shot in "Final Analysis" (pub
1990) at the IPA & the Canadian & San Francisco Psa. Soc.,
viz, that he had "fallen from grace" & would "no longer have
any function within psychoanalys is. Everything would be
removed from me." & that he then quotes a letter expelling
him from the IPA for nonpayment of dues. I had initially
thought it possibly self-explanator y (thus omitted by
Masson) that prominent analysts are not expelled from
analytic associations for non-payment of dues (especially
three months worth--I've received magazine subscriptions for
lo nger than three months despite non-payment of renewal).
However, after reading the Malcolm book , I find the case
more puzzling. "In the Freud Archives" was published in
1984 (hence withou t any knowledge of Masson's later claim),
& there Malcolm says that in Nov. of 1982 (a bout a year
after the debacle on August-Nov. 1981), Masson told her that
he imagined he woul d resign from the IPA, "though I think
I'll wait until I can get the most effect out of it. O r
wait until they try to throw me out, which shouldn't be long
now, except that they'd be frightened o f the publicity."
(p52) Later, she writes that Masson kept in touch after
Nov. 1982 & that in Sep tember of 1983 almost a year later,
he was expelled from the Canadian Psa. Soc. for non-payment
of dues, & thus automatically from the IPA (p163). This
makes more sense logistically, bec ause presumably the
authorizing body was the Canadian Society--yet, on the other
side, his being thrown own there was quite unlike anything
one would expect solely for non-payment of dues for three
months & I still presume pretextual. It seems that Masson
(entirely unconscious ly I assume) went through a process of
chewing ravenously, & spitting out psychoanalysis, & t hat
the denouement, though perhaps more consulsive, painful, &
thrilling than he ever co uld have imagined, was fitting,
having even a fated quality. One might call him an intel-
lectual bulimic. What I find most troubling in a certain
way is that Masson was a person of great vitality, energy,
persistence, & flair--not to mention charm--& that
psychoanalysis failed to help him--his self & other
destructiveness was perhaps even fueled & sharpened by his
encounte r with it. I believe he went into the field
unselfcomprehendingly, that he was fascinated by & even
phantasized a "cure" from it, & that psychoanalysis failed
him as miserably as he failed it. & I do think, moreover,
that though he is intellectually crude & reductive, he also
made important discoveries & that, without him, the
landscape would be different.
Jeffrey Gordon
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