The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud

Synopsis: One hundred years ago Sigmund Freud published The Interpretations of Dreams, a book that, like Darwin’s The Origin of Species, revolutionized our understanding of human nature. Now this groundbreaking new translation–the first to be based on the original text published in November 1899–brings us a more readable, more accurate, and more coherent picture of Freud’s masterpiece.

The first edition of The Interpretation of Dreams is much shorter than its subsequent editions; each time the text was reissued, from 1909 onwards, Freud added to it. The most significant, and in many ways the most unfortunate addition, is a 50-page section devoted to the kind of mechanical reading of dream symbolism–long objects equal male genitalia, etc.–that has gained popular currency and partially obscured Freud’s more profound insights into dreams. In the original version presented here, Freud’s emphasis falls more clearly on the use of words in dreams and on the difficulty of deciphering them. Without the strata of later additions, readers will find here a clearer development of Freud’s central ideas–of dream as wish-fulfillment, of the dream’s manifest and latent content, of the retelling of dreams as a continuation of the dreamwork, and much more. Joyce Crick’s translation is lighter and faster-moving than previous versions, enhancing the sense of dialogue with the reader, one of Freud’s stylistic strengths, and allowing us to follow Freud’s theory as it evolved through difficult cases, apparently intractable counter-examples, and fascinating analyses of Freud’s own dreams.

First Published: November 1899 | ISBN: 978-0199537587

The Interpretation of Dreams (German: Die Traumdeutung) is a 1899 book by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, in which the author introduces his theory of the unconscious with respect to dream interpretation, and discusses what would later become the theory of the Oedipus complex. Freud revised the book at least eight times and, in the third edition, added an extensive section which treated dream symbolism very literally, following the influence of Wilhelm Stekel. Freud said of this work, “Insight such as this falls to one’s lot but once in a lifetime.” The book was first published in an edition of 600 copies, which did not sell out for eight years. The Interpretation of Dreams later gained in popularity, and seven more editions were published in Freud’s lifetime. Because of the book’s length and complexity, Freud also wrote an abridged version called On Dreams. The original text is widely regarded as one of Freud’s most significant works. Wikipedia

Mini-bio: Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst.  Freud was born to Galician Jewish parents in the Moravian town of Freiberg, in the Austrian Empire. He qualified as a doctor of medicine in 1881 at the University of Vienna. Upon completing his habilitation in 1885, he was appointed a docent in neuropathology and became an affiliated professor in 1902. Freud lived and worked in Vienna, having set up his clinical practice there in 1886. In 1938 Freud left Austria to escape the Nazis. He died in exile in the United Kingdomin 1939. Wikipedia

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Paperback Edition: The Interpretation of Dreams (Oxford World’s Classics)
Audible Edition: The Interpretation of Dreams
Kindle Edition: The Interpretation of Dreams