The Interpretation of Dreams : The Complete and Definitive Text

Freud, Sigmund

ISBN 10: 0899664415 / ISBN 13: 9780899664415

Published by Buccaneer Books, 1983

Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 3632107-75

Synopsis:

Few books have done more to shape the twentieth-century mind than The Interpretation of Dreams. First published in November 1899 it is the originator of concepts such as the Oedipus complex and the notion, now taken for granted, that our daily lives are governed not only by conscious decisions but by unconscious pressures. Although it inaugurated the new practice of psychoanalysis, its most lasting impact has been on our social and cultural outlook, on how we interpret literature and art, and on the language in which we do so.

Review: Whether we love or hate Sigmund Freud, we all have to admit that he revolutionized the way we think about ourselves. Much of this revolution can be traced to The Interpretation of Dreams, the turn-of-the-century tour de force that outlined his theory of unconscious forces in the context of dream analysis. Introducing the id, the superego, and their problem child, the ego, Freud advanced scientific understanding of the mind immeasurably by exposing motivations normally invisible to our consciousness. While there's no question that his own biases and neuroses influenced his observations, the details are less important than the paradigm shift as a whole. After Freud, our interior lives became richer and vastly more mysterious.

These mysteries clearly bothered him--he went to great (often absurd) lengths to explain dream imagery in terms of childhood sexual trauma, a component of his theory jettisoned mid-century, though now popular among recovered-memory therapists. His dispassionate analyses of his own dreams are excellent studies for cognitive scientists wishing to learn how to sacrifice their vanities for the cause of learning. Freud said of the work contained in The Interpretation of Dreams, "Insight such as this falls to one's lot but once in a lifetime." One would have to feel quite fortunate to shake the world even once. --Rob Lightner

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Interpretation of Dreams : The Complete ...
Publisher: Buccaneer Books
Publication Date: 1983
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good