The Freud Reader

Like many people, I had a passing familiarity with Freudian concepts (repression, the unconscious) that had entered the general culture, and had read small bits of Freud in college. Peter Gay is one of Freud's foremost biographers, and his mastery of Freud's work is reflected in his selections for this anthology. Each selection is arranged chronologically (except for a brief autobiographical piece by Freud, which serves as an introduction) to show the evolution of Freud's thought. Professor Gay adds helpful introductory notes to put each individual piece in context, and relate it to the body of Freud's work. The anthology also has extensive references for further reading. For me, the revelation of this anthology is how the Freud of popular culture is not the Freud that emerges in his work. For example, Freudian theory is commonly regarded as "pathologizing" homosexuality. However, it becomes clear from reading the selections here that, clinically, Freud saw homosexual orientation as no more or less "pathological" than "normal" heterosexuality. He regarded the "pathology" as a matter of social convention, and noted how homosexuality was admired in ancient cultures. This is not to say that Freud himself undertook to challenge the homophobia of his place and time, but it does show how his thinking was more far more nuanced than the popular image we've inherited. The selections also give a fascinating glimpse at the mindset of late nineteenth and early twentieth century medicine: Freud's entire theory evolved out an effort to treat somatic complaints that appeared to have no organic cause. Professor Gay has assembled an extraordinarily well-crafted selection of Freud's writings. They provide an excellent overview of Freud's actual work, and the development of his thought.

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Sigmund Freud was the first clinical psychotherapist, the first to discover and investigate the possibilities of "a talking cure". His contributions have made possible effective psychotherapeutic treatments for ailments encompassing not only acute psychological symptoms, such as traumatic, dissociative, phobic, depressive, and conversion disorders. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is also the treatment of choice for broader personality difficulties which often give rise to more generalized problems in living, for example, difficulties in love relationships, self-esteem, and work achievement. To summarize briefly Freud's views on how psychotherapy works is a daunting task. His psychoanalytic writings spanned some forty-three years, from 1895 to 1938, and fill twenty-three hefty volumes. As the first to enter this clinical and theoretical territory, he had nearly to invent de novo a model of the human mind. Based on observations from both in and outside the clinical setting, his model would include psychological development from earliest infancy, how one eventually arrives, or fails to arrive, at a relatively stable personality structure. Moreover, the Freudian model accounts for the human potential for resumed growth and change throughtout life. Psychoanalysis also seeks to understand the continuous process of mental function from moment to moment, as might be observed through intropsection or in a session of psychotherapy. Freud recognized that psychological life intrinsically is inseparable from relations with other people, "object relations", starting with an infant's relations to its mother, later continuing with the child's relations to both his parents and siblings, and ultimately to the wider surrounding community. We can fairly say that Freud, in his discovery and description of transference and countertransference in the therapeutic relationship, saw a "relational perspective" as essential to understanding the process of psychotherapy. Nevertheless, his clinical and theoretical work remained primarily focused on the inner life of the patient. From his fundamental model of the human mind and psychological life, he saw implications for broader human concerns, regarding morality, law, politics, the arts, culture, and society, as also explored for example in literature, religion, and philosophy . Most noteworthy about Freud's thought, in fact, is its evolution. Extraordinarily able to acknowledge his own errors and uncertainties, Freud saw, in the early 1920's, that his original formulations under "the topographic theory" had become a cul de sac, blocking further progress. Unable to account for certain anomolous phenomena, such as his discoveries of unconscious guilt and unconscious ego functions, he was able and willing himself to undertake the necessary, revolutionary shift in thought, leading from the topographic to what has become known as "the structural theory". Almost all schools of psychotherapy today, including those tha

Followers of Freud across the world should be greatful to Mr Gay for compiling such an enormous and elaborate volume on Sigmund Freud. I have not come across any book on Frued which is so comprehensive yet does not seem to drag on about trivial details. It is like having a converstaion with Freud, perhaps even better because you can skip and chose the subject at will. The book gives a complete run down on all the major and some minor works of Freud, some in the form of lectures for the novice while others are for beginners. It has something for every body. While not many will agree with Freud's prognosis on Da Vinci, Nabokov, Michealangelo etc., we should consider ourselves fortunate enought that soemone offered to traverse through the thought processes of these geniuses and tried to split open their hidden personalities. Until we find a better explanation of what drives humans towards homo sexuality or why success leads people towards melancholy and why do we get recurring dreams about failure or flight fanatasy, Sigmund Freud shall continue to occupy the mantle which is fit only for a 20th century prophet. To bring his work to light in an accessible form, we owe gratitude to Mr Gay