In 1877, a young Freud met an established physician named Josef Breuer and they began a collaboration that would lead to the publication of the classic work, Studies on Hysteria. But by the time it released, Freud was moving to establish himself as a major figure in the treatment of mentally ill patients, and would let no one stand in his way. He consequently minimized Breuer’s contributions, betraying his former mentor and benefactor.In A Dream of Undying Fame, renowned psychologist Louis Breger narrates the story behind the creation of Studies as well as the case of Anna O., which helped contribute to Freud’s definition of “neurosis.” Breger reveals that Freud’s own self-mythologizing and history not only affected everything he did in life, but also helped shape his emerging beliefs about psychoanalysis. Illustrating the importance of personality and social context behind an intellectual breakthrough, Breger provides an in-depth look at a field that reshaped our understanding of what it means to be human.
A Dream of Undying Fame is something of a rare and amazing thing -- a weighty but short book about Sigmund Freud. Few tasks in biography can be more difficult than penning a brief book about Freud, one of the twentieth century's most iconic figures as well as a prolific producer of books, articles and concepts. Freud was complicated and fascinating, a man identified with probing into the deepest recesses of the psyche, but who kept his own interior life shrouded in mystery. He revolutionized the way we think about ourselves, and even today, his ideas are so embedded in popular culture that we take their truth for granted without a second thought. Just a few examples will suffice: Freudian slip, anal personality, repression, defenses, resistance, the analysis of dreams. Obviously, one of the great difficulties in writing about Freud is that there is just so much material to work with.
Louis Breger's book takes as it starting point Freud's "betrayal" of his early mentor, Josef Breuer. Breger makes a persuasive case for Breuer being the originator of psychoanalysis. Certainly, his treatment of Bertha Pappenheim ("Anna O"), chronicled in Studies on Hysteria, the groundbreaking publication jointly authored by Breuer and Freud, was the first example of "the talking cure." Breuer was exhausted by the treatment, and Freud went on to develop psycholanalysis as a world wide movement, gaining undying fame in the process. Breger faults Freud for not giving Breuer proper credit, hence, his "betrayal" of Breuer.
Although this is probably not what Breger intended, in explaining how and why Freud "betrayed" Breuer, Breger actually shows why it was no betrayal at all. Breger paints Freud as man obsessed with gaining fame, driven at all costs to find a big idea that would bring him worlwide and undying fame. In his quest to achieve this goal, Freud crushed all opposition to his ideas, demanded absolute loyalty, and eventually broke with many former friends, disciples, and mentors. As Breger puts it, "The baleful effects of shaping psychoanalysis as a cult-like movement or cause grew out of Freud's need to be a great man." This drive was an essential component of Freud's success, but something which Breuer lacked. Quite simply, while Freud could create psychoanalysis as one of the most important ideas of the twentieth century, Breuer would not have been able to do so, even if the original idea of it was his and not Freud's.
Breger also examines such topics as why Freud attempted to make sexuality the one "iron-clad" law of his great theory rather than including or focusing on trauma, finding the answer in Freud's self analysis. He regards the central ideas of Freud's theory, especially the Oedipal complex, as being rooted in Freud's wish for his mother's love.
As Breger acknowledges, reactions to Freud tent to be polarized. For his part, Breger regards psychoanalysis as, for all its flaws, a great achievement, but thinks that time has shown that Breuer's ideas were more valid than Freud's. He finds Freud to be doctrinaire, and Breuer tolerant and open to a variety of theories and treatment methods, and asserts that Breuer "would have welcomed the research on infancy, child development, trauma, women's studies and psychotherapy," and says we have returned full circle to many of the rich possibilities first outlined by Breuer.
While Breger's book seems to give short shrift to the importance of the driving force of Freud's personalityand the enduring vitality of many of his core concepts, his book is nonetheless pithy, perceptive and provocative. It is also original and scholarly. In spite of that, it is quite accessible to the general reader, although a bit of background knowledge about Freud's life and ideas is helpful.
Louis Breger's A Dream of Undying Fame is a silly book. It's a criminally short book (118 pages sans the Bibliography), especially since it purports to offer an "in-depth look" at Freud and Breuer's relationship and the origins and trajectory of psychoanalysis. I would strongly discourage anyone from reading this book, but here are a few passages from the book coupled with commentary to stimulate curiosity.
Regarding Freud's relationship with Breuer after they stopped speaking, Breger writes: "In his quest for fame, Freud turned on Breuer and cut him out of his life entirely just a few years after Studies was published. Breuer's daughter-in-law, who joined the family in 1906, reported that her father-in-law rarely spoke about his earlier friendship with Freud...She recalled an incident many years later when Breuer, by then an old man, was walking in the street; he saw Freud approaching and instinctively opened his arms in greeting. Freud passed by as if he did not see him" (84). For a moment, ignore how this decisive encounter reads like tawdry gossip; even if this is true, should it matter? Breger's approach is fundamentally flawed in A Dream of Undying Fame. Using historicism as a critical framework to understand a theory as robust, complex, and multi-faceted as psychoanalysis says less about psychoanalysis and more about Breger. This is a common trick that psychoanalysis's detractors use. Focusing on particular figures, like Sigmund Freud, allows a critic to disengage from psychoanalysis's theoretical implications. In short, Breger sneaks a totalizing critique of psychoanalysis with his ad hominem attack on Freud.
That is not to say that Breger refuses to engage with psychoanalysis as a theory. He does, but in a comedically simplistic and truncated way. For example, near the end of Chapter 9, Breger writes, "Although he continued to write and publish until close to the end of his life in 1939, his main theories, with a few exceptions, were all in place by 1905" (101). Sure, but Breger consistently and conveniently ignores two of Freud's most important late texts, Beyond the Pleasure Principle and Civilization and Its Discontents. Breger references Beyond the Pleasure Principle once, but he neglects to cite Civilization and Its Discontents. This is important because Beyond the Pleasure Principle, as the title suggests, marks a clear and significant shift in Freud's thinking. Freud first articulates the death drive in Beyond the Pleasure Principle. The death drive is an essential concept for many contemporary thinkers and writers, yet Breger refuses to address it.
Breger makes another confounding ad hominem critique of Freud by addressing his publication methods. Breger writes, "Ironically, his therapeutic flaws and failures were most in evidence in his published cases, because with them he was often trying to promote his theories or prove the superiority of his approach" (102). Instead of deriding Freud for publishing his failures, we should celebrate him for it. It is incredibly rare for scientists (define that term as broadly as you want) to publish their failures. The capitalist incentive has infected academic publishing standards. That is to say, failure is rarely, if ever, profitable. Plus, Breger fails to explain how Freud's decision to publish his failures benefited psychoanalysis. Sure, perhaps all press is good press, but Breger's sentence, which I quote above, contradicts itself and deteriorates under even light scrutiny.
Finally, Breger suggests that Freud's psychoanalysis (i.e., orthodox psychoanalysis) is limited because he declined to think beyond the individual. Breger writes, "Freud's neglect of cultural factors also led him to ignore the effects of many social phenomena such as racial, religious, economic, and class discrimination, some of which had played a large role in his own life" (117). This is where neglecting Civilization and Its Discontents seems most troubling. Furthermore, Breger dedicates a fair amount of ink to criticizing Freud for infusing psychoanalysis with his personal pathologies, yet Freud's failure to think culturally occurs because he ignored his particular place in culture?
A Dream of Undying Fame illustrates why a historicist approach is so flawed. Freud was far from a flawless person, but ultimately, his personal proclivities say nothing about the theory he created. Writing a book-length character assassination is a convenient but intellectually-disingenuous way to ignore a theory.
DID FREUD DERIVE MOST OF HIS IDEAS FROM HIS TEACHER, JOSEF BREUER?
Psychoanalyst Louis Breger is also the author of 'Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision.' He wrote in the first chapter of this 2009 book, "few people today are aware that many of the essential features of psychoanalysis were first invented by Freud's older colleague, Josef Breuer, and can be found in the groundbreaking book they coauthored in 1985, 'Studies On Hysteria.'
"In the lectures he gave on his trip to America in 1909, Freud said: 'If it is a merit to have brought psycho-analysis into being, that merit is not mine. I had no share in its earliest beginnings. I was a student... [when] Dr. Josef Breuer... made use of this procedure on a girl who was suffering from hysteria.' This is the plain truth, yet in subsequent publications, when his drive for fame had become more powerful, Freud gave a sinister twist to Breuer's work ... and increasingly took credit as the sole inventor of psychoanalysis." (Pg. 1-2)
He notes, "[In] the Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis that he delivered at Clark University in 1909... [Freud] gave his former collaborator [Breuer] credit for the invention of psychoanalysis... However, in his 1914 On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement, he backs away from this position, minimizes Breuer's contribution, and gives greater emphasis to his own discoveries." (Pg. 41) He later adds, "In his quest for fame, Freud turned on Breuer and cut him out of his life entirely just a few years after 'Studies' was published. Breuer's daughter-in-law... recalled an incident many years later when Breuer, by then an old man, was walking in the street; he saw Freud approaching and instinctively opened his arms in greeting. Freud passed by as if he did not see him." (Pg. 84)
He states, "Freud's approach to treatment changed a good deal in the five years between 1887 and 1892... it is abundantly clear that all of [his patients] suffered from disturbing life events... Freud presented a picture of all these events, but one also sees the beginning of his sexual theories making their appearance... This substitution of sexuality for trauma and other actual events became more apparent in his final chapter in 'Studies.'" (Pg. 69) He adds, "This is the great mystery of Freud. After unearthing all the evidence of trauma, loss, abuse, moral self-reproach, and suppression of women, why did he neglect all these facts and completely invest himself in a theory of sexual conflict and repression?" (Pg. 82)
He argues, "Freud codified the technique of what came to be called classical psychoanalysis ... when his stature was established... When Freud followed these rules (which he often did not), his patients did not make much progress. His well-known published cases are failures... In contrast are patients... he never wrote or publicly spoke about---all of whom found their analyses very helpful. With these patients, what was curative was... a more open and supportive relationship, interpretations that fit their unique experiences... and the feeling that they were liked by their analyst..." (Pg. 104-105)
He concludes, "Josef Breuer was the first of Freud's collaborators to be rejected when he failed to completely agree with his colleague's ideas; not just rejected, but made the object of a false story that depicted him as a coward. Adler suffered the fate of expulsion... Jung, who like Adler was working on his own ideas, was the next to be excommunicated, in 1913... Otto Rank was dropped... and Sandor Ferenczi... Those who disagreed with orthodox doctrines or came up with new ideas were blacklisted... The fate of these 'dissidents' was an object lesson to those who wished to remain within the movement. This was what would happen if they dared to raise questions about Freud and his doctrines." (Pg. 113-114)
This is a fascinating study, that will be of great interest to anyone studying Freud, and his ideas.
Fascinating historical investigation into the roots of psychoanalysis through the lives and relationships of Sigmund Freud, his lesser known mentor Josef Breuer, and their patients.
Breger concludes that Breuer’s approach to psychoanalysis in both practice and theory has proven to be more valid.
While conducting his own analysis of the subjects, Breger notes that Freud’s desire for a single unifying theory of psychoanalysis led him to fixate on sexual drives, fantasies, and repression, based largely on speculative and prejudicial analysis.
Breuer meanwhile, adopted a more balanced, scientific, approach recognizing different traumas and other lived experiences (including systemic discrimination against women) were sources of psychological suffering and that dissociation (rather than active repression) was a common means of coping.
Breuer’s practice of collaborative therapy, exemplified in his treatment of Bertha Pappenhiem (Anna O.), involved empathy and active support. This approach has proven to be much more helpful than the “neutral, abstinent, all-knowing stance of the orthodox psychoanalyst” promoted by Freud.
Sadly, Freud’s false rumours about the conclusion of Breuer’s treatment of Bertha Pappenheim (subsequently invented to support aspects of Freud's theories) have remained largely unchecked.
While Breger does not degenerate the many contributions of Freud to the field, he suggests that had Breuer’s approach been emphasized from the pivotal infancy of psychoanalysis, more effective psychotherapy could have been provided to suffering people.
While Breger provides a thoroughly detailed account, he does so in a readable and engaging way - or as Sophie Freud (Sigmund’s grandaughter) puts it, “like a detective thriller”.
I was not in an ideal position to enjoy this book, as much of it was a regurgitation of what I'd read before, including in Studies in Hysteria and the Penguin introductory essay, and Frederick Crew's nasty latest tome on Freud. But the last chapter, not quite twenty pages largely on the history of Freud's theories in psychoanalysis after Freud's death, provided some of what I had hoped for in Crew's book. However much you believe in this book, of great value is Berger's measured approach, pledging allegiance to neither side in the Freud debate.
This is an excellent easy to read book about Freud and the beginnings of psychoanalysis. It provides a fascinating account of the relationship between Freud and his mentor Breuer, particularly around where their ideas converged and the significant points of difference. Throughout the book is the theme that Freud's genius is marred by his pursuit of notoriety, that his need for professional recognition would at times blind him to the unique needs of each of his patients, e.g., Freud's preoccupation with "finding a sexual root at the base of every neurosis" seeing him discount the variety of causal factors to psychological disturbance such as grief and gender inequality. Whilst Breger described Breuer as a collaborator in his work with his patients, "Freud became ever more the analyst-authority, the one who knows what is in the patient's unconscious and, when he or she did not agree with his interpretations, took this as evidence of 'resistance'." It is noteworthy that Freud's well known published cases are regarded as failures or only partial successes; those who did find Freud's analysis beneficial were cases Freud did not speak publicly about. Breger described how "with these patients, what was curative was not neutrality, anonymity, abstinence, or interpretations of resistance (Freud's rules for classical psychoanalysis), but a more open and supportive relationship, interpretations that fit their unique experiences, empathy, praise, and the feeling that they were liked by their analyst..." This really is a wonderful book about Freud's brilliance and his limitations and how this shaped early psychoanalysis.
Fascinating picture of who Freud really was professionally and personally and, of course, WHY he was. So many Freud studies are written by acolytes and are a bit whitewashed. This portrays the man with all of his warts. He is especially diminished next to the humane, humble Breuer who not only mentored him, but supported him financially through rocky times. This is an extremely accessible, yet scientific portrait of one man who changed western thought.
The book is not great, but has some useful information. Specially biographical info on Josef Breuer and Anna O. The main problem I found is the poor judgment of the author and the lack of comprehension of the freudian theories and methods. The title of the book already shows the kind of discussion the author will try to conduct, but he does that so poorly that not even once you are led to agree with him.
Another title of this book would be "The Faults of Freud: Sex isn't everything". While this book is highly critical of Freud, it attempts to not go too far and credit some of Freud's work as positive.