The Linguist

@CIOL_Linguists WINTER 2023 The Linguist 15 FEATURES word's roots, while intentionally evoking the Greek grammar term 'enclitic'. (Enclitic describes a final syllable vowel contraction in response to the next word's vowel, as when καί becomes κ' in κ'ἀγαθός.) 'Attachment' is Strachey's far more intuitive translation, since Freud's term refers to the normal tendency to bond with other people. However, Strachey's footnote ends by dispelling the misimpression that the word was chosen because this type of person is capable of attachment to others: "It should be noted that the 'attachment' (or 'Anlehnung') indicated by the term is that of the sexual instincts to the ego-instincts, not of the child to its mother." Strachey's second translation emphasises the way in which normal desire is linked to the early childhood experience of relying on others to fulfil one's needs. With three terms on hand ('leaning-on', 'anaclitic' and 'attachment') Strachey can make Freud's concept sound scientific yet intuitive. Neologisms and meaning Nearly a century later, translating for the New Penguin Freud series, John Reddick "rejected with relish and relief" Strachey's 'anaclitic' as a "preposterous neologism founded on plain ignorance of Freud's German (Anlehnung)." 6 Instead of opting for further neologism or differential translation, Reddick translates the term consistently as 'imitative type'. In a footnote, he explains his choice: "the [related German verb sich anlehnen an] does not imply 'attach' or 'attachment'; it simply means that A 'is modeled on', 'is based on', 'follows the example of' B", as when past works of art or philosophy influence the next generation. The choice of 'imitation' suits Freud's claim that non-narcissists take their parents as a model and seek substitutes who 'imitate' their characteristics. 'Imitative type' makes sense as a translation, but 'imitation' (enge Orientierung) only corresponds to the second definition of Anlehnung in the German Duden dictionary; the first definition is 'dependence' (das Sichstützen; Halt). 'Dependence' calls up both the child's dependence on caregivers and the adult's dependence on love from others who could very well spurn us. Narcissism, in Freud's theory, is a reaction to unconscious terror at the thought of dependence, which prompts the libido to fasten onto a safer object of desire – the self: It is universally known, indeed it seems self- evident to us, that anyone tormented by organic pain and dire discomfort abandons all interest in the things of the external world, except in so far as they bear on his suffering. Closer observation shows us that he also withdraws all libidinal interest from his love-objects; that so long as he suffers, he ceases loving. 7 A narcissist's pain impedes their ability to form 'attachment' to others, a problem which Strachey's translation illuminates (even if this was not his declared intention). These observations are not meant as 'gotcha' translation criticism; 8 Strachey and Reddick both formidably capture aspects of this polysemous word's semantic range, as the translation 'dependent' would have caught yet others. A differential translation of Freud's narcissism essay might rally 'attachment', 'leaning', 'dependence' and 'imitation' for CAREFUL ANALYSIS Professor Sigmund Freud taken by photographer Max Halberstadt in Hamburg around 1921 Phillips argues for this approach because it exposes more of the wit, suspense and beauty of Freud's writing

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