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Freud: Great Books of the Western World 54
Great Books of the Western World
54 volume set
Robert Maynard Hutchins, Editor in Chief
54 volume set
Robert Maynard Hutchins, Editor in Chief
884 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1952
408 people are currently reading
725 people want to read
About the author
Sigmund Freud
4,365 books8,501 followersDr. Sigismund Freud (later changed to Sigmund) was a neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, who created an entirely new approach to the understanding of the human personality. He is regarded as one of the most influential—and controversial—minds of the 20th century.
In 1873, Freud began to study medicine at the University of Vienna. After graduating, he worked at the Vienna General Hospital. He collaborated with Josef Breuer in treating hysteria by the recall of painful experiences under hypnosis. In 1885, Freud went to Paris as a student of the neurologist Jean Charcot. On his return to Vienna the following year, Freud set up in private practice, specialising in nervous and brain disorders. The same year he married Martha Bernays, with whom he had six children.
Freud developed the theory that humans have an unconscious in which sexual and aggressive impulses are in perpetual conflict for supremacy with the defences against them. In 1897, he began an intensive analysis of himself. In 1900, his major work 'The Interpretation of Dreams' was published in which Freud analysed dreams in terms of unconscious desires and experiences.
In 1902, Freud was appointed Professor of Neuropathology at the University of Vienna, a post he held until 1938. Although the medical establishment disagreed with many of his theories, a group of pupils and followers began to gather around Freud. In 1910, the International Psychoanalytic Association was founded with Carl Jung, a close associate of Freud's, as the president. Jung later broke with Freud and developed his own theories.
After World War One, Freud spent less time in clinical observation and concentrated on the application of his theories to history, art, literature and anthropology. In 1923, he published 'The Ego and the Id', which suggested a new structural model of the mind, divided into the 'id, the 'ego' and the 'superego'.
In 1933, the Nazis publicly burnt a number of Freud's books. In 1938, shortly after the Nazis annexed Austria, Freud left Vienna for London with his wife and daughter Anna.
Freud had been diagnosed with cancer of the jaw in 1923, and underwent more than 30 operations. He died of cancer on 23 September 1939.
In 1873, Freud began to study medicine at the University of Vienna. After graduating, he worked at the Vienna General Hospital. He collaborated with Josef Breuer in treating hysteria by the recall of painful experiences under hypnosis. In 1885, Freud went to Paris as a student of the neurologist Jean Charcot. On his return to Vienna the following year, Freud set up in private practice, specialising in nervous and brain disorders. The same year he married Martha Bernays, with whom he had six children.
Freud developed the theory that humans have an unconscious in which sexual and aggressive impulses are in perpetual conflict for supremacy with the defences against them. In 1897, he began an intensive analysis of himself. In 1900, his major work 'The Interpretation of Dreams' was published in which Freud analysed dreams in terms of unconscious desires and experiences.
In 1902, Freud was appointed Professor of Neuropathology at the University of Vienna, a post he held until 1938. Although the medical establishment disagreed with many of his theories, a group of pupils and followers began to gather around Freud. In 1910, the International Psychoanalytic Association was founded with Carl Jung, a close associate of Freud's, as the president. Jung later broke with Freud and developed his own theories.
After World War One, Freud spent less time in clinical observation and concentrated on the application of his theories to history, art, literature and anthropology. In 1923, he published 'The Ego and the Id', which suggested a new structural model of the mind, divided into the 'id, the 'ego' and the 'superego'.
In 1933, the Nazis publicly burnt a number of Freud's books. In 1938, shortly after the Nazis annexed Austria, Freud left Vienna for London with his wife and daughter Anna.
Freud had been diagnosed with cancer of the jaw in 1923, and underwent more than 30 operations. He died of cancer on 23 September 1939.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 22, 2024
This little book first appeared in 1952. I bought a copy around 1962, when the book mobile visited City View Public School, where I was in the seventh grade.
Like others here, I found it fascinating. But you do know, knowledge of Freud gained through reading a general selection is nowhere near complete?
I corrected that two summers ago, when, with seasoned 72-year-old eyes, I plunged into his version - and my own version - of the Subconcious.
My own version is now a 21st century version.
In the present tense we all inhabit now, the State and the vast corporations we all know have utilized Freudian techniques for making use of our subconscious.
Somewhat nefarious ones, I hazard to think...
Put it this way. In our many daily dealings with corporate sponsors of the computer tools we use, we find ourselves operating within a strictly - and anally? - logical framework.
Everything we say must follow single, left-brained circuits.
So can any of you tell me why this same strict corporate entity "innocently" and simultaneously uses right-brained, multiple-circuited, sexually-oriented pop-ups and other subliminal triggers freely?
Simple. They're using loaded dice. Duh. A confused mind is easily twisted!
But of course, we're all adults, aren't we?
Why not go with the flow?
Duh again.
It's Simple:
As Chris Rea sang thirty years ago in warning -
This ain't no upwardly-mobile freeway!
Oh no - this is the Road to Hell.
Watch your step, guys.
The 21st century is a Mine Field.
If you value your sanity, tread carefully!
I didn’t, and paid dearly.
Like others here, I found it fascinating. But you do know, knowledge of Freud gained through reading a general selection is nowhere near complete?
I corrected that two summers ago, when, with seasoned 72-year-old eyes, I plunged into his version - and my own version - of the Subconcious.
My own version is now a 21st century version.
In the present tense we all inhabit now, the State and the vast corporations we all know have utilized Freudian techniques for making use of our subconscious.
Somewhat nefarious ones, I hazard to think...
Put it this way. In our many daily dealings with corporate sponsors of the computer tools we use, we find ourselves operating within a strictly - and anally? - logical framework.
Everything we say must follow single, left-brained circuits.
So can any of you tell me why this same strict corporate entity "innocently" and simultaneously uses right-brained, multiple-circuited, sexually-oriented pop-ups and other subliminal triggers freely?
Simple. They're using loaded dice. Duh. A confused mind is easily twisted!
But of course, we're all adults, aren't we?
Why not go with the flow?
Duh again.
It's Simple:
As Chris Rea sang thirty years ago in warning -
This ain't no upwardly-mobile freeway!
Oh no - this is the Road to Hell.
Watch your step, guys.
The 21st century is a Mine Field.
If you value your sanity, tread carefully!
I didn’t, and paid dearly.
January 21, 2022
A really interesting read! I’m interested in both psychology and art history so this was a perfect book for me. Editors note at the beginning was definitely worthwhile as it’s easy to forget what Freud was saying is just a THEORY. I loved reading this it was super interesting !!
July 14, 2024
As the end of the year was gradually drawing closer on the horizon, I was thinking there was a good chance I wouldn't read any more massive books until 2022. Then I decided to read this colossal tome of Freud's major works. Usually I would read just one of the large essays (more or less book length) in any given year, but here I decided to just take the plunge and read the entire collection. I've been interested in reading some of Freud's work for a long time - admittedly, I was drawn more to the taboo element that characterises his output. I read and moderately enjoyed The Interpretation of Dreams last year, but otherwise I was completely unversed in his work. All I knew was that he was big on the Oedipus complex, and the idea that children subconsciously desired their parent of the opposite gender as sexual partners.
While it is not an exaggeration to say Freud was particularly obsessed with the sexual (or libidinous) aspects of human life, and the great import sexual gratification has over the rest of our lives, his characterisation as a perverted, mostly irrelevant thinker today is very unfair and ill-informed in my opinion. While his work is not immune to that dryness that much psychological writing (then and now) is afflicted by, so many of his expositions on the human psyche, the unconscious, dreams, religion, love, sex and psychoanalysis are fascinating.
I do not share his views in certain areas - particularly his dismissive conclusions (albeit with a tolerant attitude) on religion is disappointing if hardly surprising - but he writes with such academic rigour, passionate humanism, and literary flair that I almost always enjoyed reading his books, articles and lectures. Especially his earlier explorations into psychotherapy, in which he comes across almost like a psychiatrist's equivalent of Sherlock Holmes, delving into the fascinating complexities of trauma and neurosis, were remarkable.
While it is not an exaggeration to say Freud was particularly obsessed with the sexual (or libidinous) aspects of human life, and the great import sexual gratification has over the rest of our lives, his characterisation as a perverted, mostly irrelevant thinker today is very unfair and ill-informed in my opinion. While his work is not immune to that dryness that much psychological writing (then and now) is afflicted by, so many of his expositions on the human psyche, the unconscious, dreams, religion, love, sex and psychoanalysis are fascinating.
I do not share his views in certain areas - particularly his dismissive conclusions (albeit with a tolerant attitude) on religion is disappointing if hardly surprising - but he writes with such academic rigour, passionate humanism, and literary flair that I almost always enjoyed reading his books, articles and lectures. Especially his earlier explorations into psychotherapy, in which he comes across almost like a psychiatrist's equivalent of Sherlock Holmes, delving into the fascinating complexities of trauma and neurosis, were remarkable.
May 24, 2024
It was very interesting, but I just wasn't in the mood for such a book. That's why I didn't enjoy it that much. Some works, especially the first one about psychoanalysis, were good, but then there were some that were rather boring. If you're interested in Freud and psychology, I recommend it.
November 8, 2019
It’s amazing what failure can accomplish. Freud was bad at hypnosis. So he developed psychoanalysis.
What Freud proceeds to lay out in the following near 900 pages of lectures and works spanning his career is his journey through neurosis and the self-narratives we construct to hide ourselves from ourselves.
A conversation I had with a co-worker today highlighted for me the importance of reading this book that is, coincidentally, also the 54th and last book in the original edition of The Encyclopedia Britannica’s Great Books of the Western World collection. When I mentioned I was almost done reading this book, she commented “I think Freud oversimplified things. I don’t think the Oedipus Complex is real and that all boys want to sleep with their mothers.” It’s not Freud that has oversimplified things (as with many of the authors that I read in this list)...it is us. Concepts such as “penis envy” and “Oedipus complex” have become quick- phrases used to define the Cliffs Notes version of Freud. But for Freud, these are, among other concepts, seeds of ideas that take root in our fertile and imaginative unconscious leading to a host of variations. In trying to understand the complex social constructs and narratives we have created, Freud refuses to accept any of those constructs or narratives as natural truths. He builds his foundation on the strongest human impulse there is- sexual drive. From there, he surveys how repression and shame mold us. And this is not just a mental exercise. In empirical fashion, he shares the experiences gained form his work with his patients to demonstrate the value in deconstructing their dreams and anxieties.
There are times when it seems a bit much. Especially in Interpretation of Dreams where every image in a dream seems to be a metaphor for something else. Is a room always a vagina? Is every phallic-shaped object really a penis? Is walking up stairs really a sexual act? However, the resistance to these ideas is found more in my own desire to be a more complicated individual than in Freud’s writings. Oftentimes, he relates these images to the diagnosis and ultimate treatment of a patient. As with all things psychological, his conclusions lack the scientific specificity we can expect from the “hard” sciences, but he at least gives his reasons. It may not be neuroscience, but it’s more structured than gypsy fortune-telling.
This took a long time for me to get through, but I don’t blame the content. As I’ve gone through the Great Books list, I have sought out other versions of the titles contained within the list. The Encyclopedia Britannica versions are physically tough reads. Fonts are small, there is double-column text, and the word spacing is cramped. But I would have had to spend a small fortune to separately get all the lectures and other works conveniently contained within this Volume 54. This is quality, and thought-provoking, material.
Ultimately, I can think of few other works that would be a more fitting conclusion to the original edition of The Great Books of the Western World. In the final pages of his New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis, Freud surveys so much of what comes before him in Western tradition. He embraces the ancient myths and totems that may speak to deeper truths of our psyche. He leaves room for philosophers to explore the gaps in knowledge but uses Baconian empiricism for examples to support any theory. He recognizes the power of religion on our minds and connects it to its persuasive secular sister Marxism. However, ultimately, he looks to the Archimedes, Copernicuses, Keplers, Newtons and Lavosisiers of the world to advance the knowledge that truly shapes our understanding. Freud doesn’t necessarily have ill will for those who insist that science fails us but, in his final paragraph, he refuses to be limited by them:
Not surprising since, as in Freud’s own life, failure is not a flaw for science. It is what leads to greater understanding.
"Now hypnosis, as a fanciful, and so to speak, mystical aid, I soon came to dislike; and when I discovered that, in spite of all my efforts, I could not hypnotize by any means all of my patients, I resolved to give up hypnotism and to make the cathartic method independent of it. Since I could not alter the psychic state of most of my patients at my wish, I directed my efforts to working with them in their normal state.” Pg. 6, Origin and Development of Psycho-Analysis.
What Freud proceeds to lay out in the following near 900 pages of lectures and works spanning his career is his journey through neurosis and the self-narratives we construct to hide ourselves from ourselves.
A conversation I had with a co-worker today highlighted for me the importance of reading this book that is, coincidentally, also the 54th and last book in the original edition of The Encyclopedia Britannica’s Great Books of the Western World collection. When I mentioned I was almost done reading this book, she commented “I think Freud oversimplified things. I don’t think the Oedipus Complex is real and that all boys want to sleep with their mothers.” It’s not Freud that has oversimplified things (as with many of the authors that I read in this list)...it is us. Concepts such as “penis envy” and “Oedipus complex” have become quick- phrases used to define the Cliffs Notes version of Freud. But for Freud, these are, among other concepts, seeds of ideas that take root in our fertile and imaginative unconscious leading to a host of variations. In trying to understand the complex social constructs and narratives we have created, Freud refuses to accept any of those constructs or narratives as natural truths. He builds his foundation on the strongest human impulse there is- sexual drive. From there, he surveys how repression and shame mold us. And this is not just a mental exercise. In empirical fashion, he shares the experiences gained form his work with his patients to demonstrate the value in deconstructing their dreams and anxieties.
There are times when it seems a bit much. Especially in Interpretation of Dreams where every image in a dream seems to be a metaphor for something else. Is a room always a vagina? Is every phallic-shaped object really a penis? Is walking up stairs really a sexual act? However, the resistance to these ideas is found more in my own desire to be a more complicated individual than in Freud’s writings. Oftentimes, he relates these images to the diagnosis and ultimate treatment of a patient. As with all things psychological, his conclusions lack the scientific specificity we can expect from the “hard” sciences, but he at least gives his reasons. It may not be neuroscience, but it’s more structured than gypsy fortune-telling.
This took a long time for me to get through, but I don’t blame the content. As I’ve gone through the Great Books list, I have sought out other versions of the titles contained within the list. The Encyclopedia Britannica versions are physically tough reads. Fonts are small, there is double-column text, and the word spacing is cramped. But I would have had to spend a small fortune to separately get all the lectures and other works conveniently contained within this Volume 54. This is quality, and thought-provoking, material.
Ultimately, I can think of few other works that would be a more fitting conclusion to the original edition of The Great Books of the Western World. In the final pages of his New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis, Freud surveys so much of what comes before him in Western tradition. He embraces the ancient myths and totems that may speak to deeper truths of our psyche. He leaves room for philosophers to explore the gaps in knowledge but uses Baconian empiricism for examples to support any theory. He recognizes the power of religion on our minds and connects it to its persuasive secular sister Marxism. However, ultimately, he looks to the Archimedes, Copernicuses, Keplers, Newtons and Lavosisiers of the world to advance the knowledge that truly shapes our understanding. Freud doesn’t necessarily have ill will for those who insist that science fails us but, in his final paragraph, he refuses to be limited by them:
Those of our fellow-men who are dissatisfied with this state of things and who desire something more for their momentary peace of mind may look for it where they can find it. We shall not blame them for doing so; but we cannot help them and cannot change our own way of thinking on their account.” Pg. 884.
Not surprising since, as in Freud’s own life, failure is not a flaw for science. It is what leads to greater understanding.
October 26, 2020
Trippy stuff.
It would be easy to shelve Freud forever on the basis of the sex-centric oddities that ground his theory. For the era, though, he does show a great deal of insight into human thought and behaviour, particularly in his Group Psychology (1921) lecture. Here he offers a startlingly incisive description of human group behaviour that would be particularly resonant today and would, of course, apply to the rise of Nazis in the following two decades (and the associated atrocities committed during the Holocaust, that would claim the lives of his two sisters):
'... A group is extraordinarily credulous and open to influence, it has no critical faculty and the improbable does not exist for it. It thinks in images...'
'The feelings of a group are always very simple and very exaggerated. So that a group knows neither doubt nor uncertainty. It goes directly to extremes. [...] Since a group is in no doubt as to what constitutes truth or error, and is conscious of its own great strength, it is as intolerant as it is obedient to authority.'
'... when individuals come together in a group all their individual inhibitions fall away and all the cruel, brutal and destructive instincts, which lie dormant as relics of a primitive epoch, are stirred up to find free gratification.'
It's also worth noting Freud's impressively detailed (for the time) descriptions of 'melancholia' - what we would now term depression - and the various ways in which it manifests (Mourning and Melancholia, 1917). His understanding of 'Obsessional neurosis' (OCD) is also worth noting for the description of the disorder's presentation.
Well worth a read with an open mind (and an appreciation of the infancy of Psychological theory)!
It would be easy to shelve Freud forever on the basis of the sex-centric oddities that ground his theory. For the era, though, he does show a great deal of insight into human thought and behaviour, particularly in his Group Psychology (1921) lecture. Here he offers a startlingly incisive description of human group behaviour that would be particularly resonant today and would, of course, apply to the rise of Nazis in the following two decades (and the associated atrocities committed during the Holocaust, that would claim the lives of his two sisters):
'... A group is extraordinarily credulous and open to influence, it has no critical faculty and the improbable does not exist for it. It thinks in images...'
'The feelings of a group are always very simple and very exaggerated. So that a group knows neither doubt nor uncertainty. It goes directly to extremes. [...] Since a group is in no doubt as to what constitutes truth or error, and is conscious of its own great strength, it is as intolerant as it is obedient to authority.'
'... when individuals come together in a group all their individual inhibitions fall away and all the cruel, brutal and destructive instincts, which lie dormant as relics of a primitive epoch, are stirred up to find free gratification.'
It's also worth noting Freud's impressively detailed (for the time) descriptions of 'melancholia' - what we would now term depression - and the various ways in which it manifests (Mourning and Melancholia, 1917). His understanding of 'Obsessional neurosis' (OCD) is also worth noting for the description of the disorder's presentation.
Well worth a read with an open mind (and an appreciation of the infancy of Psychological theory)!
October 19, 2024
I don’t know what I expected from reading Freud, but I was pleasantly surprised. While I fundamentally disagree with certain aspects of his determinations around sexuality, there are very obvious truths regarding his theories of the physical presentation of trauma.
February 17, 2018
Highly recommended for Freud fans
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 18, 2022
te voy a buscar en el infierno
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December 29, 2025ترجمه عبارات و کلمات تخصصی کسشر محض.
July 26, 2018
Don't pay too much attention to my rating as this is the first book on psychology I have read so I am a newcomer to the subject. My reason for reading this is a return to education and even though I am studying art, psychology is one of the many subjects that come up a lot in art history. I choose Freud because he is known as the father on psychoanalysis but I feel I need to read more and will do a bit of internet research before I invest my time in another book.
I knew before reading this that a lot of Freud theories have been disproven since his time but I don't know what exactly did he get right. I am sure the nurture idea is correct and I thought his writing on the group (crowd) psychology seems correct to a certain extent but the Oedipus complex seems flawed. But I really lost faith when Freud wrote about totem and taboo. It started off OK where he observes different primitive tribe rituals and culture concerning their religion and rules within the tribe. For example the incest taboo of not having sexual relations with members within the tribe and by having a God as an animal or object that must be held at such high esteem that it must not be killed unless it is involved in a certain ritual such as a sacrifice. But then he goes off in a theory that harps back to a time beyond the tribes memory of the father keeping the women to himself and the sons retaliate by killing him. Then they are allowed to have the tribes women but out of guilt abstain and convert the father's memory into a totem that they fear and also worship at the same time.
My thoughts are PROVE IT
I knew before reading this that a lot of Freud theories have been disproven since his time but I don't know what exactly did he get right. I am sure the nurture idea is correct and I thought his writing on the group (crowd) psychology seems correct to a certain extent but the Oedipus complex seems flawed. But I really lost faith when Freud wrote about totem and taboo. It started off OK where he observes different primitive tribe rituals and culture concerning their religion and rules within the tribe. For example the incest taboo of not having sexual relations with members within the tribe and by having a God as an animal or object that must be held at such high esteem that it must not be killed unless it is involved in a certain ritual such as a sacrifice. But then he goes off in a theory that harps back to a time beyond the tribes memory of the father keeping the women to himself and the sons retaliate by killing him. Then they are allowed to have the tribes women but out of guilt abstain and convert the father's memory into a totem that they fear and also worship at the same time.
My thoughts are PROVE IT
March 28, 2012
very clinical, but worth the time. freud makes jung seem like a poet.
May 22, 2019
All I can write is that I am a fan and happy to familiarise myself with his works again.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews