Freud in Dreamland

Our selection this month, "On Dreams," by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), was first published as part of the monographic serial publication Grenzfragen des Nerven und Seelenlebens in 1901. It was eventually published in its own right in 1911. Freud intended it as a popularization of some of the ideas he put forth in his longer and denser Interpretation of Dreams, which was published a little earlier. As the historian and Freud scholar Peter Gay has noted, "Freud was always his best expounder and advocate." In reading this text, it is helpful to remember that what we have here is Freud in his earlier period. You'll note that the dream he analyzes is his own, and the piece has none of the jargon he later used to promote the psychoanalytic movement with which his name has become so closely identified. I'll also call your attention to the quotation from Goethe's Wilhelm Meister. Goethe's Faust will be the subject of our discussions in November and December.