ABSTRACT
One could distinguish between the descriptive idea of apres-coup and the concept of a dynamic apres-coup. The first is widely present in French psychoanalysis and simply means “after”. The concept of a dynamic apres-coup implies different temporalities such as the notions of fixation, regression, compulsion to repeat, and the return of the repressed. It is part of a network constituted by other concepts, such as trauma, castration, passivation and infantile sexuality, which give it its metapsychological and “third” dimension. The operation of apres-coup is a dynamic movement that brings the temporalities of the subject into play in a constant to-and-fro. The chapter provides one example which gives a link is established between a painting, a dream, the here-and-now of the transference, and a childhood memory.
