ABSTRACT
Although it is a bit irregular to begin a formal essay with a declaration of personal feelings, I have learned that readers need to know my motive in order to catch the drift of my argument. Without such a declaration they are likely to imagine a grander critique than I intend, and even some sort of partisan campaign. Here, then, is how the paper came about. I have had the experience of trying unsuccessfully to convince colleagues that they are misreading Freud's comments on working through in his “Papers on Technique” (1911–1915). Since my reading seemed to me fairly plain, I was puzzled by why it was so hard to make my point.
