ABSTRACT
A man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason. It enables him to tolerate, with patience, security and confidence (but not without anxiety), the frustration of not being able to understand as well as the need to remain in a state of uncertainty and waiting. It is necessary for the later emergence of the “selected fact” that will serve as a basis for interpretation. Admittedly, the negative capability is based on the analyst's confidence in the analytic method, but it also depends on the analyst's aptitude for investing in his capacity for “reverie” in a particular session. A radical pessimism bars the way to any possibility of anticipatory illusion coming into play. The lack of anticipatory illusion and of negative capability is no less important when, for the patient, the most important thing is to be right, as this is what “guarantees her narcissistic integrity”.
