Interpretation of Dreams (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature) - Softcover

Sigmund Freud

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853264849 ISBN 13: 9781853264849

Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 2000

Synopsis

Sigmund Freud's audacious masterpiece, The Interpretation of Dreams, has never ceased to stimulate controversy since its publication in 1900. Freud is acknowledged as the founder of psychoanalysis, the key to unlocking the human mind, a task which has become essential to man's survival in the twentieth century, as science and technology have rushed ahead of our ability to cope with their consequences. Freud saw that man is at war with himself and often unable to tolerate too much reality. He propounded the theory that dreams are the contraband representations of the beast within man, smuggled into awareness during sleep. In Freudian interpretation, the analysis of dreams is the key to unlocking the secrets of the unconscious mind.

About this title

About the Author

Sigmund Freud was born in 1856 at Freiburg in Moravia and died in London in 1939. He embarked on medical studies in Vienna, working at the same time at the Institute for Cerebral Anatomy. Financial circumstances compelled him to postpone his prime interest, pure research, and he became a clinical neurologist. In 1884 he was introduced by Dr. Josef Breuer, a Viennese physician, to the "cathartic" method of treatment of hysteria, which was the starting point of what later became psychoanalysis. Studies in Hysteria was the result of Freud's and Breuer's collaboration in this area. Freud then went on alone to work at "psychoanalysis," examining the structure, nature, and diseases of the mind. As a result of his studies in literature, art, mythology, and religion, he found further evidence to support the revolutionary theories he had discovered in therapeutic practice. The Interpretation of Dreams was first published in 1900. Freud wrote of it in 1931: "It contains, even according to my present-day judgment, the most valuable of all the discoveries it has been my good fortune to make. Insight such as this falls to one's lot but once in a lifetime."

From the Back Cover

Freud's discovery that the dream is the means by which the unconscious can be explored is undoubtedly the most revolutionary step forward in the entire history of psychology. Dreams, according to his theory, represent the hidden fulfillment of our unconscious wishes.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1853264849
• ISBN 13: 9781853264849
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480