Listening to voices, hearing a person: Françoise Dolto and the language of the subject

Abstract

The aim of this paper is two-fold. The first is to further introduce readers to the work and ideas of Françoise Dolto and in particular to the concept of castration which was so central to her thinking on child development and her practice of child psychoanalysis. The second aim is to offer a partial interpretation of why Dolto has been so neglected in Anglo-Saxon psychoanalytic thinking unlike her close colleague, Jacques Lacan, and in contrast to her status in France. In conclusion I offer some thoughts on why her work is of continuing relevance and importance. © 2013 BPF and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.