Writings on Art and Literature

by Sigmund Freud, Neil Hertz (Foreword)

Despite Freud's enormous influence on twentieth-century interpretations of the humanities, there has never before been in English a complete collection of his writings on art and literature. These fourteen essays cover the entire range of his work on these subjects, in chronological order beginning with his first published analysis of a work of literature, the 1907 "Delusion and Dreams in Jensen's Gradiva " and concluding with the 1940 posthumous publication of "Medusa's Head." Many of the essays included in this collection have been crucial in contemporary literary and art criticism and theory. Among the subjects Freud engages are Shakespeare's Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, King Lear, and Macbeth, Goethe's Dichtung und Wahrheit, Michelangelo's Moses, E. T. A. Hoffman's "The Sand Man," Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, fairy tales, the effect of and the meaning of beauty, mythology, and the games of aestheticization. All texts are drawn from The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud , edited by James Strachey. The volume includes the notes prepared for that edition by the editor. In addition to the writings on Jensen's Gradiva and Medusa, the essays "Psychopathic Characters on the Stage," "The Antithetical Meaning of Primal Words," "The Occurrence in Dreams of Material from Fairy Tales," "The Theme of the Three Caskets," "The Moses of Michelangelo," "Some Character Types Met with in Psycho-analytic Work," "On Transience," "A Mythological Parallel to a Visual Obsession," "A Childhood Recollection from Dichtung und Wahrheit," "The Uncanny," "Dostoevsky and Parricide," and "The Goethe Prize."

Genres: Psychology, Art, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Essays, Literary Criticism

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1930

About the author

Dr. 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.

Reviews

[Gopal Vijayaraghavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way Freud dissects and analyses the lives of the some greatest artists and writers like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Dostoevsky in support of his hypotheses may make those who revere the above artists to cringe and curse him for degrading the great men. What cannot be denied is the brilliance exhibited in the writings of one of the towering thinkers of 20th century. In support of his analysis Freud would mention in one of his speeches delivered while accepting the "Goethe Prize" in 1927 as follows : - "Even the best and fullest of them(biographies) could not answer the two questions which alone seem worth knowing about(these great men). It would not throw any light on the riddle of the miraculous gift that makes an artist, and it would not help us to comprehend any better the value and effect of his works" Therefore, the analysis done by Freud on these great men is to "to reduce the distance that separates him from us". With this conviction that what he was doing was only in furtherance of the cause of the arts, Freud mercilessly analysed the lives of some of the greatest artists to find the motivations for their success or failure . He had given the counter arguments which might arise against his conclusions. For reading the book one should have tremendous patience since Freud quotes from so many sources which one might hardly have read or heard of. For example, the first part of the book deals with Jensen's Gradiva about an obscure German novel by a still less popular writer. For understanding this part, I had to search and read this novel. This book containing collected works of Freud is another attempt to understand the "subtle disturbances of mental function in healthy and and sick people and to infer from signs of this kind how the apparatus which serves these functions is constructed and what concurrent and mutually opposing forces are at work in it". A really dry subject can be dealt with in such an interesting manner also is a sign of the greatness of this thinker.

[Ayyuce Demirbas]

Kitaba ilk Türkçe yorumu yapmak için bir şeyler yazayım dedim. Ben bir kitabı okumya karar verdiysem Türkçe yorumları çok önemsiyorum, benim gibi başkaları da varsa faydalansınlar diye, okuduğum/incelediğim, Türkçe yorum olmayan kitaplara yorum yazıyorum.

Kitabın ilk bölümü (117 sayfa) Freud'un, Wilhelm Jensen'ın Gradiva kitabına psikanalitik yaklaşımla yazdığı yorumu içeriyor, ben Gradiva'yı ve Freud'un yorumunu hem İngilizce hem de Türkçe olarak zaten okumuştum bu sebeple bu bölümü ikinci kez okumayacağım. Londra'daki Freud Müzesi'nin etkinliklerine düzenli olarak katılan birisiyim. Bu müze sık sık etkinlikler düzenliyor. Bu etkinikler; psikoloji, sanat, edebiyat ve felsefe alanlarında çok geniş bakış açıları sunduğu için mutlaka öneririm.

Freud bir tıp doktoru ancak çok yönlü bir kişiliği var. Sadece psikiyatri alanında çalışmalar yapmamış, aynı zamanda yukarıda bahsettiğim alanlarda da etkileri çok büyük olmuştur. Freud birkaç tane dili çok iyi bilir, bu diller arasında profesyonel tercumanları kıskandıracak kalitede çeviriler yapar, antika eserler satın alır, Shakespeare, Goethe, Lord Byron okur ve sıkça bu yazarlardan alıntılar yapar... kısacası oldukça entelektüel bir insandır. Bu kitapta derlenen yazılarında Freud; masal öğeleri, Michelangelo'nun Musa'sı, Medusa'nın başı, Dostoyevski gibi konuları ele aldığı gibi bir tane de Alfons Paquet adlı bir yazara yazılmış mektubu bulunmakta. Freud mektup yazmayı çok sever ve bütün mektuplarını son derece özenle, uzun uzun yazarmış. Bu sebeple, bu mektuplar bize Freud hakkında çok önemli bilgiler sağlamıştır. Kısacası, bence Freud, detaylıca incelenmesi gereken önemli bir kişilik.

[Darran Mclaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite interesting. Freud's interpretations and analyses are always unverifiable but always interesting and thought provoking. I usually think he is striking somewhere at the heart of the matter but he oversteps the bounds of what is possible in science, as well as biography or literary criticism. His most important contribution to modern life is simply the notion that nothing is exactly as it appears to be superficially and that there are hidden depths behind everything.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am much more fond of Freud at the end of this book than I was at the beginning. Specifically in regard to Shakespearean character studies, this book proved to be useful supplemental material.

[Davide Calò]

Note su 'La Gradiva' di Jensen.
Il commento di Freud su La Gravida di Jensen è solo un esempio dei vari modi con cui Freud ha affrontato questi saggi: ossai quello di un'analisi psicanalitica di un apparato letterario. Nel caso della Gradiva lo scopo sta nell'analisi della fantasia del poeta per mostrare la vicinanza tra l'arte poetica e la scienza psicanalitica, entrambe vicinisse alle corde dell'animo umano. L'analisi è minuziosissima e si focalizza su certi passaggi considerati chiari: de facto si tratta di un'analisi dei sogni descritti da Jensen stesso e, come spesso risulta con Freud, il risultato è chiaro ma pesante. Interessante da leggere solo per chi ha dimestichezza sia con Jensen, sia con Freud.
P.S.: Se avete letto La Gradiva si possono saltare numerose pagine.

[Radi Radev · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://radiradev.blogspot.bg/2017/10/...

От известно време насам се интересувам от приложна психология. Предпочитах предимно книги за самоусъвършенстване и НЛП, но в крайна сметка реших, че е време да се запозная и със студиите на най-известния психолог на 20-ти век.
Като човек, който е написал няколко книги, за мен бе интересно да разбера какво има предвид Фройд, когато според психоаналитичната теория, разглежда два начина на протичане на психичните процеси, които нарича съответно "първичен" и "вторичен". Първичният е "фантазирането", а вторичният - "рационалното мислене".
Оказа се, че бащата на психоанализата има обяснение за мотивировката на творците да творят, без значение дали са художници, скулптори или писатели:
"Първоначално човекът на изкуството обръща гръб на действителността, защото не може да се съгласи с нейното изискване за отказ от нагонно задоволяване и дава свобода на своите еротични и честолюбиви желания във въображението. Но той намира обратния път от въображаемия свят към реалността, като превръща своите фантазии благодарение на особените си дарби в нов вид действителност, която хората приемат като пряко отражение на реалния живот."

[Leif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, just get over what you've heard and get in while it's good. And in these pieces it's always good: his explications of Gradiva, The Sandman, and Michaelangelo's Moses (included below) are beautiful explications from a past world of criticism that continue to be relevant and interesting for those writing and reading today. Whatever his failings, Freud didn't attract reams of criticism for his intellectual shortcomings.

[Amy]

would love to make some comments, but i need to go back and revisit these writings again to refresh my memory