Customer Reviews

On Dreams (The Standard Edition) (Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud)

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Freud has taken a beating in recent years, but if you ask me, far too many people blindly accept all the received wisdom about him (he was sexist, unscientific, dogmatic) instead of going straight to the source. The agreeably brief "On Dreams," while far from a comprehensive look at the subject, is a good crash-course on this fascinating topic, still worth reading generations after its initial publication.

Here, Freud convincingly demolishes the long-standing scientific argument, which is still very much with us, that considers dreams as simply random mental events. He distinguishes between the manifest content of a dream (what happens) and its latent content (what it means). He also makes valuable distinctions among the different types of dreams, varying from the simple wish-fulfillment dreams mostly restricted to children and the bafflingly weird ones that we all get on occasion, and takes a stab at explaining why and how they are formed in our sleeping minds. You can love Freud or hate him, but you cannot imagine the 20th Century without him, and he still deserves our attention.

This Review refers to the paperback edition of On Dreams (Dover Thrift Editions), composed by Sigmund Freud and as translated by M. D. Eder.

Freud's On Dreams is, quite simply, a downsized Interpretation of Dreams simplified so that non-psychologists are able to understand the basics of his theories concerning the matter. In this particular work, Freud makes an effort to explain what dreams are and how they relate to the dreamer. He also explains his thoughts on how the mind constructs dreams during their production, as well as how to analyze their content and meaning. Also included is a rather short biography about the author.

On Dreams presents wholly compelling arguments as to how the mind designs, produces, contorts, and presents the dream content. The work describes how the dreamer's psyche, he hypothesizes, will normally block the dream content while in a conscious state and due to the weakened state of this during sleep, these thoughts give birth to dreams.

Freud's work is in older English, which may make it slightly troublesome for the more modern readers to grasp. However, the work is in good composition and properly conveys his ideas and hypotheses concerning dreams. Freud also seems to have a tendency to state many educated guesses as fact in this work; therefore, the reader must keep an open mind regarding the presented concepts. The translator appears to have reproduced the text into English quite true to the original. Although, it would be desirable to read a different translation, in order to verify that the work's translation properly presents Freud's initial ideas.

Freud's theories have largely become the basics of modern psychology, for better or for worse, and are therefore all completely relevant and needed to understand the topic of psychology. On Dreams is an interesting look at what, exactly, dreams are and how they work. The overall recommendation would be that an individual interested in psychology read works by Freud and his contemporaries, however to mix those works with more modern concepts and ideas so as not to get an older, and somewhat outdated, view of the said concepts.

I bought this edition for a course because it was cheap. This is a good introduction to Freud's theory of dreams. Quite readable. My only problem was with the translation -- it's an early 20th century British translation and apparently some of the sex stuff was "cleaned up" by the translator, who didn't want to offend british sensibilities. I'd recommend another translation.

Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams: The Complete and Definitive Text was nearly 700 pages long, and far from a "popular" work. (It sold only 351 copies in six years, and took ten years before a second edition was needed.) One year after the 1899 publication of 'Interpretation,' Freud decided to write this brief summary of the same subject, for a popular audience.

Here are some representative quotations from the book:

"In order to contrast the dream as it is retained in my memory with the relevant material discovered by analyzing it, I shall speak of the former as the 'MANIFEST content of the dream' and the latter ... as the 'LATENT' content of the dream."
"The dreams were simple and undisguised wish fulfillments."
"We assume ... that the most distinct element in the manifest content of a dream is the most important one; but in fact ... it is often an indistinct element which turns out to be the most direct derivative of the essential dream thought."
"From the point of view of analysis, however, a dream that resembles a disordered heap of disconnected fragments is just as valuable as one that has been beautifully polished and provided with a surface. In the former case, indeed, we are saved the trouble of demolishing what has been superimposed upon the dream content."
"Repression--relaxation of the censorship---the formation of a compromise, this is the fundamental pattern for the generation not only of dreams but of many other psychopathological structures."
"We can thus understand how it is that repressed infantile sexual wishes provide the most frequent and strongest motive forces for the construction of dreams."

"On Dreams" is the 1901 layman's, condensed version of Freud's monumental and dense 1899 tome "The Interpretation of Dreams." While lacking the voluminous case studies, arguments and explanations of mind that are recorded in "The Interpretation of Dreams," this popularization presents an abbreviated explanation of Freud's dream analysis methods, his articulation of latent and manifest dream content, his claims that infantile dreams (and coherently referential portions of adult dreams) are cases of unrepressed wishes being undisguisedly fulfilled, and his analyses of the dream work mechanisms which produce the condensed, displaced, and regressive dreams of adulthood--which he argues are all cases of disguised or undisguised repressed-wish fulfillment.

Whether you're interested in Freud or Psychology, want help unpacking your dreams, or just want some stimulating food for thought (or fodder for conversation), this is a great read.

The Norton edition (James Strachey, translator) is the standard; the Cosimo edition is a mass-market edition with a new translator (M. D. Eder)

This book is an extremely condensed version of Freud's thoughts on dreams. The book is 45 pages so it is an easy read that tends to be more readily available though other book selling sites.

Freud groups dreams into those with obvious meanings, those with latent meanings, and those that are incoherent. He goes on to explain how dreams can be interpreted. A section is even devoted specifically to interpreting the dreams of children. Freud has a lot of interesting things to say, but like anything he says, take it with a grain of salt.

WORD OF ADVICE: Don't let others see you reading Freud for pleasure, as they will think you are weird.

Very good for used--almost like new. Decent price and good service. Thanks.