Analysis of "La parola di Gesù sul lettino di Freud" from La Repubblica, 14/1/13

During the previous lesson we read an article named "La parola di Gesù sul lettino di Freud" taken from the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. The article was written by Massimo Recalcati.

Right from the start he states that he feels excited after reading the book I Vangeli alla luce della psicoanalisi  by Françoise Dolto, so the reader can immediately think the text to be about the reasons why Recalcati feels in that way. Indeed it is important to remember that a newspaper article is an argumentative text, which has the function to persuade readers and make them agree with the point of view of the writer. Therefore the thesis of the article is: "ecco un gioiello! A suscitare il mio entusiasmo diverse ragioni".

Now, the body of the article starts to develop. First of all, he considers the writer of the book, Françoise Dolto( 1908-1988),a student of the French philosopher and psychiatrist Jacques Lacan.  However, Dolto had the rare ability to make her psychoanalytic thought understandable for every kind of people, not only for the ones who own a clear and complete knowledge of  psychoanalysis.  That's an important point to take into consideration in view of the sales of the book, especially for the publisher house.

What's more, Recalcati affirms that Dolto was different from other psychoanalysts, because she has never covered to be a Christian faithful. Therefore she constituted an exception in the world of psychoanalysis, whereas Freud stated that "religion is a neurosis" and so the religious human being is not able to fight against difficulties that our life implies and try to shelter behind God. The peculiarity of Françoise Dolto's way of acting is what Recalcati considers the second valuable reason that caused his state of excitement after reading  I Vangeli alla luce della psicoanalisi.

Going on, in the central part of the text, Recalcati explains what Dolto's attitude towards psychoanalysis consisted of. In particular, she focused her attention on the accurate reading of Gospels and she realized that Jesus is the master of the desire. Thanks to Jesus we are able to accept the desire that distinguishes our lives from the one of animals and lets our lives develop. Jesus teaches us not to disclaim our own desires. Meanwhile, according to an example taken from Luke's Gospel, she gave a clear description of a selfish person, that is a person who wants other people to conform to his/her desire.

Then, Recalcati tells the reader the third and most important reason for his state of excitement, that is Dolto's way of applying the art of analyst to Jesus' Word, and in order to make the concept more understandable in the reader's mind, he reports the example of the Parable of the good Samaritan. Going into depth, Dolto said that the "good Samaritan" is who helps somebody without asking a replacement;  he is not who asks for help.

In the last part of the article it is said that Françoise Dolto underlined how family ties could slide towards the incestuous bond that prevents the development of life(the episode of the risen Lazarus).

Finally, Recalcati puts into a better focus Dolto's statement about reality,  which is generated in the meeting with Jesus' Word, because it makes us accept the Law of our own desire.