Winner of the 2010 Sigourney Award! Reading Freud provides an accessible outline of the whole of Freud's work from Studies in Hysteria through to An Outline of Psycho-Analysis. It succeeds in expressing even the most complex of Freud's theories in clear and simple language whilst avoiding over-simplification. Each chapter concentrates on an individual text and includes valuable background information, relevant biographical and historical details, descriptions of Post-Freudian developments and a chronology of Freud's concepts. By putting each text into the context of Freud's life and work as a whole, Jean-Michel Quinodoz manages to produce an overview which is chronological, correlative and interactive. Texts discussed include: The Interpretation of Dreams The 'Uncanny' Civilisation and its Discontents' The clear presentation, with regular summaries of the ideas raised, encourages the reader to fully engage with the texts presented and gain a thorough understanding of each text in the context of its background and impact on the development of psychoanalysis. Drawing on his extensive experience as a clinician and a teacher of psychoanalysis, Jean-Michel Quinodoz has produced a uniquely comprehensive presentation of Freud's work which will be of great value to anyone studying Freud and Psychoanalysis.

In this engaging introduction, Josh Cohen argues that Freud shows above all that any thought, word or action, however apparently trivial, can invite close reading. Indeed, it may be just this insight that provokes so much opposition to psychoanalysis. By reading short extracts from across Freud's work, addressing the neuroses, the unconscious, words, death and (of course) sex, How to Read Freud brings out the paradoxical core of psychoanalytic thinking: that our innermost truths only ever manifest themselves as distortions. Read attentively, our dreams, errors, jokes and symptoms - in short, our everyday lives - reveal us as masters of disguise, as unrecognizable to ourselves as to others.

Essays discuss Freud's interest in Shakespeare, his choices for the names of his six children, his love of science, and his ambivalent feelings toward his father.

Did Freud present a scientific hypothesis about the unconscious, as he always maintained and as many of his disciples keep repeating? This question has long prompted debates concerning the legitimacy and usefulness of psychoanalysis, and it is of utmost importance to Lacanian analysts, whose main project has been to stress Freud's scientific grounding. Here Jacques Bouveresse, a noted authority on Ludwig Wittgenstein, contributes to the debate by turning to this Austrian-born philosopher and contemporary of Freud for a candid assessment of the early issues surrounding psychoanalysis. Wittgenstein, who himself had delivered a devastating critique of traditional philosophy, sympathetically pondered Freud's claim to have produced a scientific theory in proposing a new model of the human psyche. What Wittgenstein recognized--and what Bouveresse so eloquently stresses for today's reader--is that psychoanalysis does not aim to produce a change limited to the intellect but rather seeks to provoke an authentic change of human attitudes. The beauty behind the theory of the unconscious for Wittgenstein is that it breaks away from scientific, causal explanations to offer new forms of thinking and speaking, or rather, a new mythology. Offering a critical view of all the texts in which Wittgenstein mentions Freud, Bouveresse immerses us in the intellectual climate of Vienna in the early part of the twentieth century. Although we come to see why Wittgenstein did not view psychoanalysis as a science proper, we are nonetheless made to feel the philosopher's sense of wonder and respect for the cultural task Freud took on as he found new ways meaningfully to discuss human concerns. Intertwined in this story of Wittgenstein's grappling with the theory of the unconscious is the story of how he came to question the authority of science and of philosophy itself. While aiming primarily at the clarification of Wittgenstein's opinion of Freud, Bouveresse's book can be read as a challenge to the French psychoanalytic school of Lacan and as a provocative commentary on cultural authority.

Specialists from a wide range of areas - from the history of medicine, to literary scholarship, to the history of classical scholarship - spent two months working on questions raised by Freud's reading and his library at the Freud Museum in London. Such internationally renowned scholars as Harold P. Blum, Ned Lukacher, Phillip McCaffrey, Robin N. Mitchell-Boyask, Michael Molnar, Ursula Reidel-Schrewe, Ritchie Robertson, and Peter L. Rudnytsky gather here to apply a wide range of critical approaches, from depth psychoanalysis to cultural analysis. Together, they present a detailed look at the implications of how and what Freud read, including the major sources he used for his work.

Cultural theory has found a renewed interest in psychoanalysis, bringing many new readers to Freud and his work. This book is an introductory guide to Freud and brings together for the first time: an overview of Freud′s work which enables the reader to see quickly where, and in which texts, Freud develops his main ideas a guide to reading Freud, and to what can be done with the complexities of his texts an examination of what recent cultural theory draws from Freud, and of why psychoanalysis is of interest for it a discussion about the Freud revealed by recent cultural theory an extensive selection of extracts from Freud′s texts, with commentary. This book is the definitive guide to the content of Freud′s texts: what′s there and where to find it. It will have wide appeal to students new to Freud in cultural studies, literary theory, philosophy and sociology.

Ever since Freud made his first major statements about female sexuality and psychology, his views have been the focus of intense debate--both within psychoanalysis and without.