Afterwardness, or Deferred Action: A Contribution to the History of a Psychoanalytical Concept

The article problematizes the psychoanalytical concept of deferred – occurring in the course of therapy – attribution of meaning to traumatic experiences. The author pre-sents the genealogy of the concept of “afterwardness” or “deferred action” in the works of Freud and certain post-Freudian interpretations. The article outlines a possible socio-analytical, relevant application of the concept in biographical studies. In the course of sociological interviewing, this use of the term would enable stimulating the process of biographical remembering of the past as well as the present self-understanding of the respondent, thanks to which the suppressed experiences, latent contents, or hitherto unconscious attitudes may be justified and acquire a new meaning for him/her.