Description
Book SynopsisFor students, lay readers and experts, this book features a careful reconstruction and critical reconsideration of The Interpretation of Dreams, which Freud construed as the cornerstone of his oeuvre. Sugarman identifies foundational weaknesses that call such characterization into question and assesses their implication for Freud's larger project.
Trade Review'Sugarman throws into relief the basic argumentative lines of the Interpretation of Dreams in particular and of Freud's theory as a whole, and the result of her analysis is a novel view of what this theory achieves. Her masterly presentation, clear throughout, knowledgeable and yet concise, gives us a new Freud, one critically examined, but no less fertile in understanding the human mind.' Rüdiger Bittner, Universität Bielefeld, Germany
'Susan Sugarman is puzzled by Freud's claim that dreams must provide a wish fulfillment in order to materialize. This takes her to a fascinating voyage in Freud's Interpretation of Dreams in the course of which she arrives with unexpected yet exacting truths. When a great Freud scholar like Sugarman probes into the most famous of Freud's books, you can be certain that you will be rewarded with a masterpiece in psychoanalytic scholarship and a new way of thinking about Freud's theory.' Aner Govrin, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
Table of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. The Interpretation of Dreams (1900): A note on Freud's text; 1. The interpretation of dreams chapters 1-4: background, method, and the hypothesis of wish-fulfillment; 2. The interpretation of dreams chapters 5-6: if dreams fulfill wishes with what material, and how might they form?; 3. The interpretation of dreams chapter 7: the psychology of dream processes; 4. The interpretation of dreams: a preliminary appraisal; Part II. Freud's Other Works; 5. The analysis of psychoneuroses: Elisabeth von R and the 'Wolf Man'; 6. Phenomena of ordinary waking life; 7. Speculative works; 8. Freud on dreams.
