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.

Selections span Freud's career from early case histories through his work on dreams, essays on sexuality, and his later philosophical writings. Most are reproduced in full and have been selected from the standard edition. Gay ties all together with an analytical introduction, chronology of life and work, and commentary throughout. Ideal size book for reading and browsing marred only by the inexplicable use of poor quality (and acidic) paper. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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.

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.

Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title In The Freudian Reading, Lis Møller examines the premises, procedures, and objectives of psychoanalytic reading in order to question the kind of knowledge such readings produce. But above all, she questions the role of Freud as master explicator. Although Freud has been seen as a great synthesizer, Møller contends that his significance as a reader lies elsewhere. For Møller, this significance lies in the way Freud presses his inquiry to the point where he encounters something he cannot explain or that he can only explain at the risk of overthrowing previous conclusions. Such "moments of crisis" occur repeatedly in Freud's work, causing him to swerve from his original train of thought, or even to call into question the theoretical foundation of his interpretation. The dominant line of argument, therefore, is frequently punctuated with problems and questions. If we concentrate on these, Møller argues, we are forced to reconsider the traditional conception of a "Freudian reading" and to reassess our perceived notions of just what kind of reader Freud was. While The Freudian Reading is based on a wide range of Freud's writings, it concentrates on four central texts: Delusions and Dreams in Jensen's "Gradiva", From the History of an Infantile Neurosis, "The Uncanny," and "Constructions in Analysis." The discussion does not progress chronologically. Rather, it explores the ways in which these texts interact: how they reflect, comment on, and contradict one another. The Freudian Reading is a concentrated, subtle analysis of Freud's interpretive practice, with special reference to his interpretations of literary texts. It will be of interest to scholars and students of literary theory and criticism as well as to readers in the field of psychoanalysis.

An excerpt from the beginning of the first chapter: THE SCOPE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF PSYCHO-ANALYSIS Psycho-Analysis a Science-Its Subject-Matter- Its Nature and Method-Its ultimate Goal. "IT is the fate of all useful discoveries and improvements to meet with bigoted or interested opposition from those who would willingly remain in the beaten path of habit, rather than acknowledge any change to be profitable." It is fortunate indeed that the above words cannot be applied in completeness to the new knowledge brought before the world of to-day by Professor Freud, but there is enough appropriateness in them to remind us that Psycho-Analysis has been, and probably for a long period still may be, face to face with a bitter struggle before men's minds are sufficiently understanding to render them willing to investigate it without prejudice. The reason for this is not far to seek. Freud himself has told us that his researches led him to one overwhelming certainty, namely, that the last thing man desires to know and understand is himself, and the words of Samuel Butler [God the Known and God the Unknown, p. 9] serve to show us a part of the secret. "Mankind has ever been ready to discuss matters in the inverse ratio of their importance, so that the more closely a question is felt to touch the heart of all of us, the more incumbent it is considered upon prudent people to profess that it does not exist, to frown it down, to tell it to hold its tongue, to maintain that it has long been finally settled so that there is now no question concerning it." But this impulse to turn away from self-knowledge can, and in the interests of the individual's and society's happiness must, be overcome; for the help he has given towards such overcoming, a great debt of gratitude is owed to Freud. His work may be roughly described as the provision of new keys by which we can now unlock doors in the human personality hitherto impassable, through which doors we may pass into areas unguessed at formerly. By the use of the instruments he has forged, we shall in the future be able not only to prevent, to a very large extent, the creation of the neurotic and mentally diseased, but also to set the feet of the new generations on a more desirable path, leading to a destiny more splendid and satisfying than we yet dream of.The task of Freud has been a hard and laborious one, fraught with difficulty and faced with every variety of opposition. There is neither space nor opportunity here to speak of the history of the Psycho-Analytic movement, a history of twenty years' work and struggle. Those interested can read for themselves Freud's own detailed account given in an English translation in TThe Psychoanalytic Review.