Product Description

Never ceasing to stimulate controversy, Freud is acknowledged as the founder of psychoanalysis, the key to unlocking the human mind, which has become so essential to mankind's survival in all the confusions of the 20th century. As science and technology have often rushed ahead of our ability to cope with the consequences, Freud saw that man is at war with himself and often unable to tolerate too much reality, and he pronounced that dreams are the contraband representations of the beast within man which are smuggled into awareness during sleep. In Freudian interpretation, the analysis of dreams constitutes the key to unlocking the vital secrets of the unconscious mind.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6549 in Books
• Published on: 1997-08-21
• Original language: German
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Customer Reviews

A revelation
Freud's seminal work 'The Interpretation of Dreams. This is probably Freud's most popular work and, if we maintain Freud's own logic that what is remembered is most important, it perhaps also his most important work. Freud presents numerous case studies of patient's dreams and takes the reader through his process of interpretation. The work not only suggests how we might interpret dreams themselves but also reveals Freud's fundamental understanding of the structure and functioning of the psyche; the primary processes of condensation, distortion, and representation and figurability as well as secondary revision. These processes not only affect dreams but all memory and experience.

a classic of scientific and literary history
Freud's investigations into the question of motivation in our lives form the basis of much of psychopathology today and this book provides a readable introduction to his theories about dreams and what they can tell us about our waking lives. Each chapter has several dreams (including Freud's own) and detailed analyses of them to demonstrate how we are more affected by thoughts and concerns than we like to admit to ourselves. Not only is it an interesting read, but it's quite accessible, the reader doesn't need to be familiar with any of Freud's more complicated concepts in order to be able to understand what he's writing about. His style is thorough and thought-provoking, even if you don't find yourself agreeing with everything he writes. It's easy to criticise his theories without knowing too much about them, so this book provides a welcome introduction.

bestseller in its time - and still gripping!
reading this volume will stir your own dreams, and make them more significant for you - Freud's journey into his own psyche is compelling reading and full of saucy and dark elements that will resonate with any reader who is honest with themselves - a bestseller once it was recognised in its time (in the first year it sold maybe 100 copies), it is strong narrative and Freud succeeds in shaping the book so we start before he recognises that dreams and their interpretation can provide insights into the human personality - a page-turner, and not technical - written early in his career, he had not developed the specialist language of his later writings. He won prizes for literature, and this is one sample of his deftness. highly recommended.