The article deals with the way in which the eruption of the species during puberty is echoed in the individual subjectivity of the adolescent. After observing the upheavals Freud caused in the Darwinian conception of species, we explore the dialectic between individual and species through the case of Victor, an adolescent in therapy. We analyze transgenerational and group bonds which, because of their collective character, may be considered as psychical equivalents of species for the individual. The flame of existence nonetheless is eternalized in the form of fantasies of transmission and of generation, when in addition to the difference of generations, the difference between the sexes and finiteness of the individuals can be accepted.

Adolescence, septembre 2002, 20, 3, 635-654