Ella Freeman Sharpe (1875–1947) was a leading figure in the early development of

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

in Britain, and was among the most influential of the first British

training analyst A training analysis is a psychoanalysis undergone by a candidate (perhaps a physician with specialty in psychiatry or a psychologist) as a part of her/his training to be a psychoanalyst; the (senior) psychoanalyst who performs such an analysis is c ...

s.Mary Jacobus, ''The Poetics of Psychoanalysis: In the Wake of Klein'' (London 2005) p. 4n

Life

Sharpe taught at the Hucknall Pupil Teachers Training College 1904-16, before moving to London to undertake analysis with Edward Glover's brother James. In 1923 she became a member of the British Psycho-Analytical Society, and had a second analysis, postwar, with

Hanns Sachs Hanns Sachs (; 10 January 1881, in Vienna – 10 January 1947, in Boston) was one of the earliest psychoanalysts, and a close personal friend of Sigmund Freud. He became a member of Freud's Secret Committee of six in 1912, Freud describing him as ...

. In the twenties Sharpe, like most of the London analysts, supported the more experienced work of

Melanie Klein Melanie Klein (née Reizes; 30 March 1882 – 22 September 1960) was an Austrian-British author and psychoanalyst known for her work in child analysis. She was the primary figure in the development of object relations theory. Klein suggested tha ...

against the newcomer

Anna Freud Anna Freud (3 December 1895 – 9 October 1982) was a British psychoanalyst of Austrian-Jewish descent. She was born in Vienna, the sixth and youngest child of Sigmund Freud and Martha Bernays. She followed the path of her father and contribu ...

, and she continued to show Kleinian influence into the early thirties. By the time of the

controversial discussions The controversial discussions were a protracted series of meetings of the British Psychoanalytical Society which took place between October 1942 and February 1944 between the Viennese school and the supporters of Melanie Klein. They led to a tripar ...

, however, Sharpe had taken a more nuanced attitude to Kleinianism, which saw her increasingly aligned with the

Middle Group The Independent or Middle Group of British analysts represents one of the three distinct sub-schools of the British Psychoanalytical Society, and 'developed what is known as the ''British independent'' perspective, which argued that the primary mo ...

of British psychoanalysts, seeing Kleinianism as marred by a tendency to concrete embodiment.

The symbolic in sublimation

Sharpe argued in her papers on sublimation for a continuous thread between compulsive symptoms indicating penance, and creative sublimations of childhood sadism. Investigating female patients who used artistic performance as a form of identification with the

phallus A phallus is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic. Any object that symbolically—or, more precisel ...

, she also pointed out the problematic aspects of that incorporation in phantasy. Her attention to the role of symbolism in life and psychoanalysis has made her appear as a precursor of

Jacques Lacan Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, , ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud", Lacan gave yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, and pu ...

, who would himself pay tribute in ''Ecrits'' to "Ella Sharpe and her very relevant remarks...She is far from ordinary in the extent to which she requires the analyst to be familiar with all branches of human knowledge". Nevertheless, her sense of the concrete, the body and the material behind sublimation and the symbolic differentiates her from the more linguistic elements of the Lacanian turn. Sharpe drew attention to the similarities between poetic devices, like synecdoche, and Freud's views on the relations of parts, in the manifest content of dreams, and the whole, in the latent content of dreams.

Selected writings

* Sharpe published in 1937 a sequel to Freud on dreams, called ''Dream Analysis: A Practical Handbook for Psycho-Analysts''. It has been praised as a bridge between Freud and

Lacan Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, , ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud", Lacan gave yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, and ...

, as well as for setting out Sharpe's own view of the psyche as dream-matrix. * She also published a psychoanalytical study of

Francis Thompson Francis Joseph Thompson (16 December 1859 – 13 November 1907) was an English poet and Catholic mystic. At the behest of his father, a doctor, he entered medical school at the age of 18, but at 26 left home to pursue his talent as a writer a ...

, highlighting his identification with, and fear of separation from, his mother. * Among her papers in the ''

International Journal of Psychoanalysis ''The International Journal of Psychoanalysis'' is an academic journal in the field of psychoanalysis. The idea of the journal was proposed by Ernest Jones in a letter to Sigmund Freud dated 7 December 1918. The journal itself was established in 1 ...

'' were 'Certain Aspects of Sublimation and Delusion' (1930), and on 'The Technique of Psychoanalysis' (1930/31).Otto Fenichel, ''The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis'' (London 1946) p. 653

Life

The symbolic in sublimation

Selected writings

See also

References

Further reading