Ferenczi’s “Wise Baby”: Enigma’s Promise and the Hope for Translation in the Face of Intromission

Abstract

ABSTRACT In response to Gila Ashtor’s “The “Wise Baby” and the “Original Hermeneut,” I address both her formulation of the “wise baby” as a “microcosm” of the fantasy-material divide and her reconfiguration of the “wise baby” as “original hermeneut.” I put two Laplanchean constructs to work, specifically intromission and psychical reality, in order to articulate an important distinction between Ferenczi’s “wise baby” and Laplanche’s “original hermeneut.” A clinical vignette is offered in order to illustrate the distinct effects of intromission and how we might overcome its potentially devastating impact.