ABSTRACT
The process of condensation operates on the myth of the emotional experience in the same manner as a set of chessmen stand in symbolic relation to Gawain and the Green Knight, Morte d’Arthur etc. In the mythic stage of recording an emotional experience, as in many discursive dreams, the meaning is still open to many interpretations. But as the condensation proceeds, and finally results in a highly condensed symbol, say the Queen in chess, the meaning is now “contained”, no longer open to multiple interpretation. It must now be “read” or understood, grasped. Thus a symbol may be said to be “close to the bone” of mental pain, for it pinpoints the zone of conflict.
