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Raised in the world of psychoanalysis: an interview with Judith Dupont

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Abstract

This interview with Dr. Judith Dupont contains her reminiscences and thoughts about two topics of importance for the historiography of psychoanalysis. First, Dr. Dupont recalls her growing up among and meeting with pioneers, such as Vilma Kovács, Alice and Michael Balint, Melanie Klein, Imre Hermann and others. Second, Dr. Dupont reconstructs the chronicle of Ferenczi's manuscripts: how they were entrusted to Michael Balint by Ferenczi's widow, the complex reasons Balint could not publish them for more than 30 years, and finally, how Dr. Dupont succeeded in bringing the Clinical Diary to the public, and thus enriched contemporary psychoanalysis with the presence of Ferenczi after more than 50 years of silence and censorship.

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Acknowledgement

The transcript of this interview was prepared by Martin Runge, M.A. It would have been impossible to finalize it without the generous support of Dr. Dupont, who repeatedly answered my questions and read different drafts of the manuscript. I am also grateful to the editorial team of the American Journal of Psychoanalysis for their corrections and suggestions that have significantly improved the readability and quality of the text.

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Correspondence to Aleksandar Dimitrijević.

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Aleksandar Dimitrijević, Ph.D., lecturer, International Psychoanalytic University; clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, private practice, Berlin.

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Dimitrijević, A. Raised in the world of psychoanalysis: an interview with Judith Dupont. Am J Psychoanal 82, 548–573 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-022-09372-9

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