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SIX Freud as Quixote It canno t b e denie d tha t t o interpre t an d repor t one's dream s demand s a hig h degre e o f self-disci pline . On e i s boun d t o emerge a s th e onl y villai n among th e crow d o f nobl e character s wh o shar e one's life. —Freu d In The Interpretation of Dreams, th e paranoi d logic , psychology , an d rheto ric o f psychoanalysis , whic h hav e bee n th e subject s o f th e precedin g chapters, combin e i n perfec t harmony . Th e wor k take s th e for m o f a romance, a quest , on e tha t demystifie s th e objec t i t seeks , the n mystifie s i t in ne w ways . I t is , first, a grea t treatis e o f reduction, i n whic h th e content s of ordinary thought , draw n int o the networ k o f dreams, ar e translate d int o a new mora l an d psychologica l language , whic h know s onl y ambition , suspi cion , an d deceit . Th e positin g o f doublenes s i n ever y detai l o f experienc e makes possibl e a n agil e an d irresistibl e metho d o f decodin g an d un masking . Thi s hermeneuti c doublenes s arise s fro m th e origina l aggressive ness o f th e reductiv e method . I t permit s no t a discover y o f meanin g wher e there ha d bee n none , bu t a destructio n o f ordinar y meaning , a translatio n into something else. I t is a hermeneutic no t of fulfillment bu t o f deprivation , its ai m no t t o recove r bu t t o negate . Onl y whe n th e unmaskin g o f th e ordinary ha s bee n achieved , an d th e reade r ha s bee n reoriente d i n th e inverted worl d o f th e unconscious , d o ne w mysterie s an d ne w adventure s arise. With th e employmen t o f this method , Freu d make s hi s persona l psychol ogy a n exemplar y one . H e himsel f assume s a doubl e role , playin g bot h parts i n th e dram a o f translation : discovere r o f hidde n motive s an d victi m of interpretation . Th e glor y o f th e on e lie s i n th e exposur e o f th e other , th e heroism o f th e on e i n th e foll y o f the other . Freud' s privat e an d contingen t foibles—the "megalomaniac " foible s o f the doctor , th e friend , th e son , th e colleague—provide Freu d th e interprete r wit h th e material s o f a universa l science o f suspicion . An d i t i s no t onl y vanity , prima l selfishness , an d 131 132 • Chapter Six exalted egotis m tha t th e metho d o f suspicio n ca n detec t behin d th e facad e of everyda y life , strugglin g t o b e expresse d i n th e languag e o f dreams . These dream s an d thei r interpretation s ar e roote d i n impulse s o f the rawes t physicality, th e mos t infantil e bodil y preoccupations . The y ar e a n embar rassment t o civilize d sentiment , ye t Freu d bring s the m humorousl y t o th e center o f the huma n psyche . And i f thi s wer e no t enoug h fo r th e satirist' s purposes , th e dream s als o reveal, o r ar e mad e t o reveal , i n Freud' s psycholog y a serie s o f comi c infatuations wit h heroe s o f the imagination . Freud' s megalomaniaca l quest , like Quixote's , expresse s itsel f a s literary...

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