ABSTRACT
Building upon the origins of the curse position set out in previous chapters, this theory is now developed further with an important exploration of the psychic processes of introjection and identification. These meta-psychological processes offer important differing epistemological avenues into thinking about how and what is ‘taken in’ for the curse position to take hold and then recur. These different perspectives of ‘taking in’ (introjection) and ‘taking on’ (identification) are elaborated upon through the associated theories of Ferenczi’s ‘teratoma’ and Klein’s ‘terrifying figures’, which offer new perspectives on the uncanny double and – combined with the fairy lore myths of the ‘changeling’ and ‘glamour’ – shed important light on superego functioning in the curse position and its relation to the symbolic spectacle and imposter syndrome. These perspectives are illustrated Doris Lessing’s The Fifth Child novella and a clinical vignette.
