Salvatore Freni and Marcella Dittrich
"In tutte le attioni humane quasi la necessità convien che succedano de gli errori: ma dove più facilmente, in più diversi modi, et più ne possono accadere che si avengano nello stampare i libri, non ne so imaginare alcuna. Et parmi la impresa della correttione di essi veramente poterla assimigliare al fatto di Hercole intorno all'Hydra de i cinquanta capi: percioché si come quando egli col suo ardire, et forze le tagliava una testa, ne rinascevano due, cos parimenti mentre co'l sapere, et con la diligentia, si emenda un errore, le più volte s'imbatte che ne germogliano non pur due, ma ancho tre et quattro, spesse fiate di maggior importanza, che non era il primo ..." (Prefazione del Tipografo Cavallo all'opera di Achille Fario Alessandro, Venezia 1563).
The Italian translation of the Lehrbuch was preceded by an introduction for the Italian reader, in which we outlined the intellectual adventure in the translation and revision, leading to the creation of the final form of the Italian text. Not only was it an adventure but, avoiding pitfalls and tricks inherent in such an important work was particularly tiring, as the printer Cavallo commented in 1563 with the saying traduttore-traditore (translator-traitor; see inscription).
We were already aware of how our authors, expecially Thomä, were very sensitive to the problem of correctly translating psychoanalytic concepts in languages other than Freud's original.
We are sure we did not completely avoid the hermeneutic "perils and pitfalls" of the text, considering that mistakes can be found even in the original version, above all in the second volume in some clinical cases due to extremly subtle and evocative uses of certain words.
We worked very hard to reduce any eventual mistakes, reading the text over and over again, confronting it with the Spanish version edited by our friend Dr. Juan Pablo Jiménez de la Jara and the English one edited by Dr. Michael Wilson, not to mention the further revision by the Bollati Boringhieri editorial staff. The Italian edition improved thanks to further adjustments suggested by the authors up to the summer of 1992 before final delivery to the publishing house. If at the end there are still some mistakes they should be considered as unconscious "slips" or as transference/ countertransference dynamics as such an undertaking strongly lends itself to such "slips" for various reason.
Undoubtly the Lehrbuch which we translated trattato (treatise) rather than manual (handbook) in order to underline the completeness of the work and its systematic nature and openness to the new, is strongly marked by a didactic, historical-critical aspect aimed at learning from experience, and represents the most important work of German contemporary authors in the psychoanalytic field (because of the voluminosity, originality and wide opening to empiric research). All this made us conscious of the heavy responsibility we had undertaken and sometime exposed us to the risk of being disturbed or inhibited in the course of our work.
Certainly it is difficult to translate from German into Italian, more than from English or from languages directly derived from Latin. Furthermore in Italy, apart from Cremerius and other few German writers, the contemporary German psychoanalysis was almost unknown, as the most important cultural links were from France and England for historical reasons.
The composition of the translating/editing team was a winning one: the main translators Marcella Dittrich and Vilemira Emili Smid are multilingual, the first Italian mothertongue and the second Slavonic mothertongue, and they were able to integrate adequately the linguistic structure of the German text into the final language also by comparing it with the English and Spanish version; Jutta Beltz, who has been living in Italy for ten years, is German mothertongue, started working on the second volume and enabled us to clarify the "living" meaning of German by considering it in its contemporary social context, with the exception of some idiomatic expressions typical of southern Germany (the most amusing example was Seckel paragraph 4.5 volume 2, dialectal word for scrotum, testicle, the meaning of which in the text was the male genitals; even though the word chosen wasn't exactly the same in Italian we chose the more idiomatic expression, minchia probably also in honour of the editor's Sicilian origin. The editor did not know German but this turned out to be an advantage rather than an obstacle, because from the beginning he played the role of the Italian reader experienced in psychoanalysis, urgeing the translators to make many revisions (with the object of keeping the text both understandable and in harmony with the style and occurrence of Italian terms).
The editor was facilitated in his task by the English and especially by the Spanish translation, the syntax of which is quite similar to Italian, edited by Dr. Jiménez during his stay in Ulm in direct contact with the authors. Furthermore, when doubts cropped up, we were really helped by exchanges with Jiménez and the writers in case of doubt; Marcella Dittrich's stay in Ulm (for about 15 days) also proved very helpful, as she discussed both the state of things and some linguistic problems, and more importantly it helped to overcome the feeling of being constantly under examination (anstößige Übertragung?) which resulted from the awareness of working with such a famous researchers' group for the first time, a group which can rely on an impressive institutional establishment and which produces extensive scientific research; a fact that really surprised us in June 1987 during the International SPR (Society Psychotherapy Research) Meeting when the Milanese group met Thomä and Kächele making official the task of translating the treatise. In the first volume we were confronted with themes and terms not really dealt with in Italian psychoanalytic literature.
One of those was Junktim (inseparable bond between cure and research), undoubtedly the Leitmotiv of the whole book; this subject was treated in a very original way, the aim of which was to distinguish the hermeneutic-heuristic aspect of psychoanalytic reseach in the "discovery contest" (analyst's office) which needs a particular approach and a methodological system. This subject really surprised the Italian psychoanalytic society, so much so that Freni felt like writing a particular study, using the treatise as a springboard, entitled "Freudian Junktim in the light of current empirical reasearch trends in psychoanalisis".
As a matter of fact in Italy as in other strong psychoanalytic oriented countries, a concept of Junktim as something still existing in itself prevails, as it is regarded as a sort of continuative bond between psychoanalyst's mental processes which unfold in the analyst's office interactionally created with the patient and those related to reflection, revision and publication of the observed data, which the psychoanalist shares with his reference group which affirms his opinion.
This results in a concept of unitary and exhaustive psychoanalytic research which is completely dependent on the hermeneutic circle in the original sense. Also the difference between Einfall and freie Assoziation represented for us a theme of great hermeneutic significance; we translated Einfall as idea improvvisa but in our opinion the best translation would have been occorrimento, a word not used in Italian (even though it still exists in the Italian dictionaries such as UTET). The term derives from the latin occurrere in mente and gives the real sense of the ac-cadere psichico (psychic event); to let readers understand idea improvvisa was often repeated in brackets after the german original word Einfall.
The authors stressed the importance of the unanstößige Übertragung; theme apart from the normal translation "unobjectionable" (for unanstößige) we also used "(non urtante)" (not hurting) to render the physical and moral sense of the term. We were really interested in this subject because it reminds us of the need to compare different therapeutic techniques and to make a detailed study of the relationship between transference and suggestion.
The authors insisted especially on the analyst's contribution in terms of transference-countertransference-real person dynamic; this is probably the main point occuring through the whole book. The way in which the "psychoanalytic process" and its close link to the results of psychoanalytic therapy struck us as being extemely original and as having a strong cultural impact. In closing we'd like to mention the importance of Ulm Process Modell which leads to the peculiar concept of psychoanalytic therapy as a terapia focale continua di durata indefinita e a focus variabile (ongoing temporally unlimited focal therapy with a changing focus).
The two volumes although forming a whole, are separately organized; the first presents problems of theoretical nature about psychoanalytic concepts and epistemology and focused on the comprehensive and up-to-date historical-critical review of literature.
We could afford those points thanks to a precise study of quotations, finding out the original sources (luckily many of them have been translated into Italian). In short we enlarged our library with books we had probably never bought not only to exhibit them but to deal with subjects we wouldn't have had the chance of studying in depth.
The second volume, besides conceptual-terminological problems let us to consider the need of rendering the evocative atmosphere of psychoanalytic dialogues, chosing a way of talking close to the reality of verbal exchanges during a treatment rather than a pure and simple literary translation; the task sometimes impossible was of translating all words as in the original text drawing on Italian language the spirit of psychoanalytic words, challenging Voltaire's assumption according to which, Malheur aux faiseurs de traductions letteraales, qui en traduisant chaque parole énervent le sense! C'est bien là que la lettre tue et que l'esprit vivifà (Lettres philosophiques). Anyway we are sure we respected fairly the beauty and the spirit of the text without sacrificing the completeness.
We collected all ways of expressions most similar to Italian ones, both as linguistics and as meaning, to the germans'; an exception was represented by a typical middle-european custom of hiding eggs in the garden during Easter holidays and let children look for them. A quotation was added referring to this custom.
The clear conceptual and operational distinction between case history and treatment report firmly marks the beginning of the 2nd volume (1st chapter), comprehending as well the theme of tape-recording of the sessions, practice which in Italy kindles a strong opposition in most psychoanalysts. For reasons of conciseness we would like to ponder upon some terms which have had their own history in the process of translation and revision, both because they are particularly demanding on the theoretical level (the most important is certainly Nachträglichkeit) and for a better result in the Italian language (for example Ansprechen).
Ansprechen was resolved thanks to the suggestion of Professor A.E. Meyer, who knows Italian rather well, when, in occasional encounter, we asked him which meaning, according to him, the term expressed; he gave us the example of that particular way of addressing to someone you meet in the street or by chance when you approach him with the intention to buttonhole him; that is abbordare! since the expression referres to a rather hurried and at the same time unproper way to interpret the transference, it appeared to us a good choice to translate with abbordo o abbordaggio transferale.
Unlust (2nd volume, chapter 4.3) was instead resolved with anedonia in a personal encounter between Thomä and Freni. We preferred it to svogliatezza or malavoglia as we had at first thought; really, the litteral translation dispiacere, in respect to Lust/Unlust (piacere/dispiacere) appeared scarcely suitable to the description of the clinical picture of Mr. Christian Y, strongly marked by boredom, apathia, unwillingness, unability to experience pleasure, that is anedonia (anhedonia).
Hilflosigkeit in Freud's Opere (ed. Boringhieri) is usually translated with stato o condizione di impotenza; it seemed to us important to underline the aspect of a condition of impotence due to a mancanza; for example mancanza d'aiuto (helplessness) in the child from the adult, or also mancanza in deeper ontological sense as condition which marks the human being in his most authentic existence.
Dulcis in fundo, Nachträglichkeit! A term the concept of which finds in the 2nd volume (3rd chapter) a deep and original development; even A. Modell has used it naming our authors in his book Other Times other Realities (1990). Right from the first moment it appeared to us a terribly difficult concept to be translated with a single word which could perfectly center its meaning. A word with a nearly magic sound, which, maybe, it was best not to translate. In Italian it has been literally translated with posterior, in English deferred action; it has been Lacan who has revalued this Freudian concept, which he translated with aprs coup, while at present effet de l'aprs coup is preferred. In order to translate this term we have made a little informal research among fifty Italian psychoanalysts on various occasions; most of them were inclined to keep for good the translation posterior specifying better its sense with a footnote; the ones nearest to the French literature preferred aprs coup for its incisiveness and conciseness, or even effet de l'aprs coup; others underlined the aspect of effetto retroattivo della significazione or effetto retroattivo dell'atto di significazione.
We were not able to find a unique Italian word which expressed the concept of this sort of senso di poi. In 1991 in the Int. Rev. Psychoanal. (18: 407-427) appeared the work by Thomä and Cheshire with the title Freud's "Nachträglichkeit" and Strachey's "deferred action": trauma, constructions and the direction of causality. In this work the authors emphasize the structure of the accadere psichico (psychic occurance) as a form of visione retrospettiva (looking back) of the mind, with attribuzione retrospettiva di significato (retrospective attribution of meaning). In the meantime our friend Pablo Jiménez had translated it into Spanish with retroactividad, while Michael Wilson had in English opted for retrospective attribution.
The final decision was taken in March 1992 in a meeting between Thomä, Cheshire and Freni in occasion of the I.P.A. Conference on Empirical Research in Psychoanalysis which took place in London. We then decided to translate with retrospettività, creating a sort of neologism through the substantivation of the adjective retrospettivo; what we wanted was to show the retrospective aspect, the looking backwards into the past with the eyes of the present, avoiding possible confusions with retrospettiva, the Italian term which is more used in the sense of exhibit, show the review of artistic works or products. Even the term retrospezione present in the philosophical thought of Henri Bergson (cfr. La pensée et le mouvant, 1933) could be subject to misunderstanding even if, according to us, it is very close to the meaning of Nachträglichkeit wanted by our authors.
Regarding the word Sprechzimmer (analyst's office) we would have liked to translate it into "the discussion, the dialogue room, the room in which words are free", to represent the most interesting aesthetic aspect of analytical experience - frequent and often intense visits to a privileged location (the analyst's room) where one is able to experience the flow of uninhibited speech. This is something difficult or even impossible to perform somewhere else, especially in the present society.
In the Italian psychoanalytic way of saying, referring to the analyst's office we used the terms stanza d'analisi or "setting". We believe that a further and more systematic thinking, as the authors of the treatise did masterfully, stimulates all psychoanalists to review concepts and ways of saying concerning their work, taking care of chosing from the language the more precise words capable of evoking the real sense and the particular connotations.
Their proposal of substituting the definition of neutralità of the psychoanalyst with the concepts of Wertoffenheit (opening to values), Bedachtsamkeit (sense of the measure, ponderation), Gemessenheit (moderation, caution), Natürlichkeit (to be natural, naturalness) has provoked in the team of the translators and the editor a deep feeling of participation for the recovery of "Freud's humanity" and of the deep intersubjective authenticity of psychoanalytic therapy. Natürlichkeit, Wertoffenheit, Bedachtsamkeit, Gemeinsamkeit (community, comunion), together with Nachträglichkeit are expressions which echo ancient and universal values which psychoanalysis has made its own in an authentic way and which guarantee the analytic couple against ideological and contingent values associated to fashion and socio-political propaganda.
Looking retrospectively at this intellectual adventure and at the enormous fatigue which it has meant for all of us, as moreover it happens in every real adventure, we may confess without shame that we have been sustained and relieved in such effort by a deep sense of community (Gemeinschaftsgefühl) which came from the certainty of participating to a work of great cultural and social relevance. Gemeinschaftsgefühl which we experience again each time we meet all those who have translated and edited in already nine languages the treatise of our eminent colleagues from Ulm. Gemeinschaftsgefühl which lit up inside us in Ulm in the evening of June 1987, at the party given by Thomä at the Department of Psychotherapy of the University of Ulm, on the occasion of the International Meeting of the S.P.R. (Society for Psychotherapy Research), where he gave to all the guests, in addition to food, drinks, music, folk-dances, a parcel which contained a booklet which described the history and the work of the Department of Psychotherapy of the University of Ulm and a loaf of bread shaped as the Ulm cathedral, in homage to his progenitor who was a baker.
Gemeinschaftsgefühl which is installed inside us enduringly, growing and strenghthening more and more in the following meetings, in which the colleagues from Ulm have sustained the young group of empirical research in psychotherapy of Milan giving us very generously many suggestions and methodological tools which have allowed us to bring the first Italian contributions at the recent European meetings of S.P.R.
We would also like to remember here the initiative of the 1st Italian-German Meeting of Psychoanalysis which took place in Villa Vigoni, on the Lake of Como, in May 1991, which has allowed a cultural encounter between psychoanalysts from Ulm and Italian psychoanalysts, especially from the Center of Psychoanalysis of Milano.
For all of this and for more which we are not able, here and now, to put down into words we have accepted with pleasure the invitation to give a contribution of subjective evidence in occasion of this booklet. For this we are thankful to Thomä and Kächele and to their colleagues and we wish them to continue to produce more psychoanalytic works that, as the Lehrbuch, are able to give, in addition to admiration for the authors, a profound sense of a lively psychoanalysis, present in the contemporary social reality, open to therapy and to research, deeply rooted in its original ground (the cure of the suffering human being) which still has to express its enormous potential of therapy and knowledge.
And it has been psychoanalysis which has taught us how admiration and gratitude can not be dislinked from envy, which is really justified in front of such an impressive work. We are comforted by the thought that we have been able to overcome it and not to be damaged by it, helped by the illusion that translating a work in another language is somewhat of a creative act.
