BOOKS BY FREUD
The best introduction to Freud is Freud himself. But two warnings. Don’t start with An Outline of Psychoanalysis (1938): it is not an elementary work as the title suggests. Second, Freud’s writings are summaries of his work as it stood to date. He kept revising and never really supplied a final, complete ‘system’.
Here are some basic books which may help beginners to start reading Freud for themselves.
A collection of Freud’s writings selected by his daughter Anna Freud, available in Penguin Books, The Essentials of Psychoanalysis contains the seminal pieces and provides a comprehensive view of his central concepts.
Freud’s case studies on Dora, Little Hans, Hysteria, etc., are recommended because they combine good story-telling with analytic technique. These are available in paperback editions in the Freud Pelican Library, Penguin Books, or the reader can consult the 24-volume Standard Edition of The Complete Works of Sigmund Freud (Hogarth Press, London). Appreciation of the case studies should prepare the reader to try Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams and The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, available in the paper-back series mentioned. Alternatively, the reader might prefer Freud’s A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis (28 lectures to lay persons, 1915–17) and New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1932–36), both in Penguin Books.
BOOKS ON FREUD
Ernest Jones’ biography The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud (Pelican Biographies, Penguin Books, 1974) is still the classic one. It has its biases, but has the advantage of being written by someone who knew Freud and was personally involved in the foundation of psychoanalysis. It is gripping reading and introduces all the major psychoanalytic father-figures.
David Stafford-Clarke’s What Freud Really Said (Penguin Books) provides a good, clear and brief introduction. For an intellectual assessment of Freud’s ideas, Barry Richards’ Images of Freud: Responses to Psychoanalysis (J.M. Dent and Sons, 1989) is reader-friendly and excellent. Richard Wollheim’s Freud (Fontana Modern Masters) is a classic introduction which emphasizes the importance of Freud’s theory of mind, but is perhaps a little difficult for the beginner.
R.E. Fancher’s Psychoanalytic Psychology (W.W. Norton & Co., New York) gives a clear account of Freudian theory as a scientific product. Alternatively, Paul Kline’s Fact and Fantasy in Freudian Theory (Methuen, London) sets out to invalidate Freud’s claim to science from an experimental view-point.
EXTENDED READING
Norman O. Brown’s Life Against Death (Sphere Books) provides the reader with a stimulating and controversial application of psychoanalysis to the meaning of culture and history.
Another classic of the 1960s, Herbert Marcuse’s Eros and Civilization (Sphere Books, 1969) combines liberal Marxism and Freudian theory in an examination of politics, society and culture.
Feminist criticisms of Freud have often been hostile, particularly in the U.S. Juliet Mitchell’s Psychoanalysis and Feminism (Penguin Books) should be consulted for an assessment of the feminist misreadings of Freud by the former gurus of sexual politics, Friedan, Millett, and others. Mitchell’s interpretation is balanced, positive and radically feminist. An important book, but not easy.