The Freud/Jung Letters

Last updated
The Freud/Jung Letters
The FreudJung Letters.jpg
EditorWilliam McGuire
Translator R. F. C. Hull and Ralph Manheim
Published1974
PublisherPrinceton University Press
ISBN 9780691036434 (1994 ed.)

The Freud/Jung Letters: The Correspondence between Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung is a book, edited by William McGuire and first published by Princeton University Press in 1974, that compiles the 360 letters that psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung wrote to each other from 1906 until their break in 1914.

Contents

Lionel Trilling wrote in The New York Times , "In no way does it disappoint the large expectation it has naturally aroused," [1] and (apart from minor reservations about some of the translations) the quality of the edition is widely recognised. [2]

Thematics

Besides providing a wealth of material about both the theoretical and the institutional developments of early psychoanalysis, the correspondence also charts the intense relationship between Freud and Jung during the period in question. Where Jung wrote of his "unconditional veneration" for Freud, the latter in turn claimed that "Your person has filled with confidence in the future." [3] What has been seen as a mixture of narcissistic idealisation and grandiosity on the part of both men, [4] combined with the persisting theoretical differences of substance over the Libido theory in particular, [5] led ultimately to the break-up of the relationship - giving the shape of the correspondence something of the appearance of a classic tragedy. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigmund Freud</span> Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis (1856–1939)

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts in the psyche, through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Jung</span> Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist (1875–1961)

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy, psychology, and religious studies. Jung worked as a research scientist at the Burghölzli psychiatric hospital, in Zurich, under Eugen Bleuler. During this time, he came to the attention of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. The two men conducted a lengthy correspondence and collaborated, for a while, on a joint vision of human psychology.

Psychoanalytic literary criticism is literary criticism or literary theory that, in method, concept, or form, is influenced by the tradition of psychoanalysis begun by Sigmund Freud.

"Rat Man" was the nickname given by Sigmund Freud to a patient whose "case history" was published as Bemerkungen über einen Fall von Zwangsneurose ["Notes Upon a Case of Obsessional Neurosis"] (1909). This was the second of six case histories that Freud published and the first in which he claimed that the patient had been cured by psychoanalysis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Freud</span> Austrian-British psychoanalyst (1895–1982)

Anna Freud CBE was a British psychoanalyst of Austrian-Jewish descent. She was born in Vienna, the sixth and youngest child of Sigmund Freud and Martha Bernays. She followed the path of her father and contributed to the field of psychoanalysis. Alongside Hermine Hug-Hellmuth and Melanie Klein, she may be considered the founder of psychoanalytic child psychology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugen Bleuler</span> Swiss psychiatrist

Paul Eugen Bleuler was a Swiss psychiatrist and humanist most notable for his contributions to the understanding of mental illness. He coined several psychiatric terms including "schizophrenia", "schizoid", "autism", depth psychology and what Sigmund Freud called "Bleuler's happily chosen term ambivalence".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabina Spielrein</span> Russian physician and psychoanalyst (1885–1942)

Sabina Nikolayevna Spielrein was a Russian physician and one of the first female psychoanalysts. She was in succession the patient, then student, then colleague of Carl Gustav Jung, with whom she had an intimate relationship during 1908–1910, as is documented in their correspondence from the time and her diaries. She also met, corresponded, and had a collegial relationship with Sigmund Freud. She worked with and psychoanalysed Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. She worked as a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, teacher and paediatrician in Switzerland and Russia. In a thirty-year professional career, she published over 35 papers in three languages, covering psychoanalysis, developmental psychology, psycholinguistics and educational psychology. Among her works in the field of psychoanalysis is the essay titled "Destruction as the Cause of Coming Into Being", written in German in 1912.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre Janet</span> French physician and psychologist who developed influential theories about trauma-related disorders

Pierre Marie Félix Janet was a pioneering French psychologist, physician, philosopher, and psychotherapist in the field of dissociation and traumatic memory.

<i>Studies on Hysteria</i>

Studies on Hysteria is an 1895 book by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, and the physician Josef Breuer. It consists of a joint introductory paper ; followed by five individual studies of hysterics – Breuer's famous case of Anna O., seminal for the development of psychoanalysis, and four more by Freud— including his evaluation of Emmy von N— and finishing with a theoretical essay by Breuer and a more practice-oriented one on therapy by Freud.

<i>Totem and Taboo</i> 1913 book by Sigmund Freud

Totem and Taboo: Resemblances Between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics, or Totem and Taboo: Some Points of Agreement between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics, is a 1913 book by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, in which the author applies his work to the fields of archaeology, anthropology, and the study of religion. It is a collection of four essays inspired by the work of Wilhelm Wundt and Carl Jung and first published in the journal Imago (1912–13): "The Horror of Incest", "Taboo and Emotional Ambivalence", "Animism, Magic and the Omnipotence of Thoughts", and "The Return of Totemism in Childhood".

<i>The Future of an Illusion</i> 1927 book by Sigmund Freud

The Future of an Illusion is a 1927 work by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, in which Freud discusses religion's origins, development, and its future. He provides a psychoanalysis of religion, which he views as a false belief system.

<i>Beyond the Pleasure Principle</i> 1920 essay by Sigmund Freud

Beyond the Pleasure Principle is a 1920 essay by Sigmund Freud. It marks a major turning point in the formulation of his drive theory, where Freud had previously attributed self-preservation in human behavior to the drives of Eros and the regulation of libido, governed by the pleasure principle. Revising this as inconclusive, Freud theorized beyond the pleasure principle, newly considering the death drives which refers to the tendency towards destruction and annihilation, often expressed through behaviors such as aggression, repetition compulsion, and self-destructiveness.

<i>The Discovery of the Unconscious</i> 1970 book by Henri Ellenberger

The Discovery of the Unconscious: The History and Evolution of Dynamic Psychiatry is a 1970 book about the history of dynamic psychiatry by the Swiss medical historian Henri F. Ellenberger, in which the author discusses such figures as Franz Anton Mesmer, Sigmund Freud, Pierre Janet, Alfred Adler, and Carl Jung. The book was first published in the United States by Basic Books. The work has become a classic, and has been credited with correcting older estimates of Freud's level of originality and encouraging scholars to question the scientific validity of psychoanalysis. Critics have questioned the reliability of some of Ellenberger's judgments [lacks citation].

Father complex in psychology is a complex—a group of unconscious associations, or strong unconscious impulses—which specifically pertains to the image or archetype of the father. These impulses may be either positive or negative.

<i>The Collected Works of C. G. Jung</i>

The Collected Worksof C. G. Jung is a book series containing the first collected edition, in English translation, of the major writings of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Bernays</span> Wife of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud

Martha Bernays was the wife of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.

The Secret Committee of the early history of psychoanalysis was formed in 1912 in order to oversee the development of psychoanalysis and protect the theoretical and institutional legacy of Freud’s work.

<i>Freud, Biologist of the Mind</i> 1979 book by Frank Sulloway

Freud, Biologist of the Mind: Beyond the Psychoanalytic Legend is a 1979 biography of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, by the psychologist Frank Sulloway.

<i>Freud: A Life for Our Time</i> 1988 book by Peter Gay

Freud: A Life for Our Time is a 1988 biography of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, by the historian Peter Gay. The book was first published in the United Kingdom by J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. The book has been praised by some commentators and compared to the psychoanalyst Ernest Jones's The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud (1953–1957). However, it has been criticized by authors skeptical of psychoanalysis, who have accused Gay of lacking objectivity and of repeating incorrect claims about Freud's work.

<i>The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud</i> 1953–1957 book by Ernest Jones

The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud is a biography of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, by the psychoanalyst Ernest Jones. The most famous and influential biography of Freud, the work was originally published in three volumes by Hogarth Press; a one-volume edition abridged by literary critics Lionel Trilling and Steven Marcus followed in 1961. When first published, The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud was acclaimed, and sales exceeded expectations. Although the biography has retained its status as a classic, Jones has been criticized for presenting an overly favorable image of Freud. Jones has also been criticized for being biased in his treatment of rival psychoanalysts such as Otto Rank and Sándor Ferenczi.

References

  1. The Freud/Jung Letters
  2. Peter Gay, Freud: A Life for Our Time (1989) p. 742 and p. 759
  3. Peter Gay, Freud: A Life for Our Time (1989) p. 203-4
  4. P. Homans, Jung in Context (1979) p. 57
  5. Peter Gay, Freud: A Life for Our Time (1989) p. 203 and p. 238
  6. S. and J. Stein, Psychotherapy in Practice (2000) p. 268