ABSTRACT
Winnicott’s theoretical model of first beginnings invokes a child no less mythical than that of Freud. In centring on the dimension of being, it echoes his experience of the emptiness encountered in psychotics and of the deficiencies in the mother–child relationship. The cornerstone of Freudian theory is the hallucinatory realization of desire which inaugurates fantasy life. Winnicott’s starting point focuses on the feeling of continuity of existence and presents us with a being in perpetual danger of falling into emptiness and losing itself in nothingness. Freud is interested, above all, in the destinies of sexual impulses; Winnicott ignores libido and focuses on the ego and its creativity. The Freudian child emerges from the play of impulses; the Winnicottian child develops mainly during moments of calm, sheltered from instinctual storms. This chapter recognizes these differences in perspective, but its concern is to establish theoretical continuities and complementarity.
