ABSTRACT
The theoretical elaboration of Freud's writings may be likened in some respects to those fruitful moments in the work of analysis when, in attempting to say one thing, the patient or the analyst in fact says or finds something else. Concerning the relationship between the cultural background and the nature of fantasy production, it is important to note that Freud certainly possessed the conceptual tools needed to distinguish clearly between life experience and fantasy activity. The boundary is a matter of behavior: playing mentally with the fantasy is not the same thing as speaking about it. It is important to watch for the emergence of such material not for the purposes of scatological contemplation but because sometimes—perhaps even frequently—the psychic series of masochistic fantasies and sublimatory activity are close together, interact with each other, and because their working through often opens up pathways to beneficial psychic achievements and change.
