[Through entomology to psychoanalysis]

Gesnerus. 2007;64(3-4):219-30.
[Article in French]

Abstract

Vues analytiques sur la vie des abeilles et des termites (Analytical perspectives on the life of bees and termites) is a letter from L. R. Delves Broughton to Freud dated the 7th of August, 1927. The letter was translated into French by Marie Bonaparte (1882-1962) for the Revue Française de Psychanalyse (French Review of Psychoanalysis) in 1927. A German translation of the letter was done for the review Imago in 1928. In his letter Delves Broughton develops a captivating connection between Man's libidinal economy and that of certain social insects. His main argument is based on the readings of several works by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949). He proposes, as in the bioanalysis project of Sándor Ferenczi (1873-1933), the application of psychoanalytic knowledge on a specific area of the natural sciences: entomology.

Publication types

  • Biography
  • English Abstract
  • Historical Article

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bees*
  • Correspondence as Topic / history*
  • Entomology / history*
  • Europe
  • Freudian Theory*
  • History, 19th Century
  • History, 20th Century
  • Humans
  • Isoptera*
  • Libido*
  • Psychoanalysis / history*

Personal name as subject

  • R L Delves Broughton
  • Sigmund Freud