Analyzing Freud: The Letters of H.D., Bryher, and Their Circle [Hardcover]

H. D. (Hilda Doolittle) (Author), Bryher (Author), Sigmund Freud (Editor), Susan Stanford Friedman (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2002

A landmark book in the studies of Freud, H.D., modernism, gender, and sexuality. The poet H.D. (1886-1961) was in psychoanalysis with Sigmund Freud in Vienna during the spring of 1933 and again in the fall of 1934. She visited him daily at his study at 19 Berggasse, while outside Nazi thugs and militia bullied their way through the streets. Freud was old, and fragile. H.D. was forty-six and despairing of her writing life, which seemed to have reached a dead end, for all her success. Her sessions with Freud proved to be the point of transition, the funnel into which were poured her memories of the past and associations in the present—and from which she emerged reborn. H.D. came to Freud at the urging of her companion, the novelist Bryher (1884-1983), the daughter of a wealthy British shipping magnate. Freud welcomed H.D. as a creative spirit whose work he respected, but he did ask her not to prepare for their sessions, write about them in her journal, or talk about them with her friends, especially Bryher, who remained home in England. H.D.'s letters from Vienna filled the gap. Breezy, informal, irreverent, vibrant with detail, they revolve around her hours with Freud, making her correspondence unique in the spectrum of reminiscences, journals, memoirs, and biographies swirling around the legacy of the "Professor" and the movement he founded. The volume includes H.D. and Bryher's letters, as well as letters by Freud to H.D. and Bryher, most of them published for the first time. In addition, the book includes H.D. and Bryher's letters to and from Havelock Ellis, Kenneth MacPherson, Robert McAlmon, Ezra Pound, and Anna Freud, among others. Fully annotated with Index and Photographs

Editorial Reviews

Review

A valuable contribution to the social history of both psychoanalysis and literary modernism. -- Ann L. Ardis, Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, Fall 2003

Letters written by H.D.... Sigmund Freud...Ezra Pound, and others also capture the mounting tensions with the rise of Hitler. -- American Literature, September 2003

One of the most striking features of this correspondence is its view onto Freud's larger political and historical setting. -- Dianne Chisholm, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, Fall 2004

This rich trove forms an illuminating supplement to H.D.'s poems and autobiographical writings ... an important resource for scholars of psychoanalysis. -- The Women's Review of Books, Christine Froula, 1 February 2003

About the Author

Susan Stanford Friedman is Virginia Woolf Professor of English and Women's Studies and chair of the English department, the University of Wisconsin—Madison.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 615 pages
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation (November 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811214990
• ISBN-13: 978-0811214995
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 7.5 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,531,650 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #96 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( F ) > Freud, Sigmund

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seminal addition to History Of Psychology reference shelves, January 5, 2003

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Analyzing Freud: The Letters of H.D., Bryher, and Their Circle (Hardcover)

Deftly compiled and edited by Susan Stanford Friedman (Virginia Woolf Professor of English and Women's Studies and Chair of the English Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison), Analyzing Freud: Letters of H. D., Bryher, And their Circle is a fascinating, informative primary source providing invaluable insights into the life and work of the famous father of modern psychoanalysis -- Sigmund Freud. The poet H. D. was one of Freud's patients in 1933 and 1934; her letters to her novelist companion Bryher (which often revolve around the hours she spent with Freud), offer a unique glimpse into the inception of psychoanalysis, the modern-day science of the mind. Analyzing Freud is a very highly recommended, essential, seminal addition to History Of Psychology reference shelves and supplemental reading lists.