This paper purposes to show that the concept of repetition compulsion, formally introduced in the psychoanalytical theory in Freud's Beyond the pleasure's principle (1920), is already present, in a formulation much alike, in the Project for a psychology of 1895 and that its meaning depends on the conceptual framework that first takes shape at this time. It thus intends to contribute in the more general discussion about the origins of the fundamental concepts of Freudian metapsychology and exemplify how the tournant in the beginnings of the twenties may be best understood as a return to certain aspects of Freud's early thought.
Freud; metapsychology; repetition compulsion; primary processes; pleasure principle