“Desire has a ‘masochistic’ nature, as it requires the mental process, the waiting, and the placing of every action in a latent state. Correspondingly, we cannot think of transference, the unique tool of therapy, except when the patient becomes a desirous subject.” –M.A.-A.

Thought is an act of flesh. In response to the Freudian question “is it possible for pain and its pursuit to govern mental life?”, Marilia Aïzenstain-Averoff approaches the concept of masochism as a foundational dimension of human existence and a key component of the psychic apparatus.

If the pleasure principle with its consequent mental sexuality forms the foundation of psychoanalysis, masochism, investing dissatisfaction with consequent waiting, is the necessary material for the maintenance of life and creativity.

The author takes us on a journey in this book to discover fundamental experiences of human life through the forms of heroes and heroines that emerge from the words of patients, writers, and scholars. Seeing the world through the perspective of Marilia Aïzenstain embraces human moments of everyday life, teaching us that the psychoanalyst's listening is condensed in the unfolding of a thought that practically and vainly attempts to articulate the expectations of desire and the frustrations of pain.

The author, a continuator of the work of the Psychosomatic School of Paris, encourages us on one hand to work as therapists against the bankruptcy of masochism and on the other hand to respect the self-healing efforts of the subject in facing the fundamental deficit of primary masochism.