Don Quixote of La Mancha: The emblem of the refusal to grow up and the impossibility of dreaming

Journal title PSICOANALISI
Author/s Marinella Linardos
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2025/2
Language Italian Pages 13 P. 35-47 File size 84 KB
DOI 10.3280/PSI2025-002004
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This paper explores the possibilities for a fruitful dialogue between literary work and psychoanalysis. A masterpiece of world literature like Don Quixote de la Mancha is interpreted from a particular angle: the dream the hidalgo has in the cave of Montesinos. The dream is detailed and complex, but Don Quixote denies it was a dream. In the hypothesis presented, that of a collapse of the dream space, the dream can be dreamed as a text but not subjectivized as an experience. This task appears paradigmatic of the psychic work the adolescent must undertake to come to terms with reality. The emotional intensity of the hallucinatory may be preferred to it. In borderline states, the alliance with the patient requires the analyst to be capable of creating a shared belief system, which, borrowing its name from a famous episode in the work, is called the Clavilegno Pact. This involves being willing to believe, along with the patient, that a dangerous giant lurks behind a mill, a prerequisite for creating a workspace.

Keywords: literature, Don Quixote, dream space, reality testing, hallucination, alliance, adolescence.

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Marinella Linardos, Don Chisciotte della Mancia: rifiuto di crescere e impossibilità di sognare in "PSICOANALISI" 2/2025, pp 35-47, DOI: 10.3280/PSI2025-002004