Freud: Conflict and Culture: Essays on his life, work, and legacy [Unknown Binding]

Michael Roth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 1998

Few figures have had as decisive and fundamental an impact on the course of modern cultural history as Sigmund Freud. Freudian theory and psychoanalytic thinking inform the ways in which we perceive ourselves and our society, and remain vital and relevant to some of our most pressing societal issues and concerns, from drug abuse and aggression to gender and sexuality. Yet few figures have inspired such sustained controversy and intense debate as Freud has, and his theoretical and cultural legacies continue to be hotly contested.
     The exhibition "Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture," mounted by the Library of Congress, explores the influence of Freud and psychoanalysis on twentieth-century culture and examines some of his central ideas concerning the individual and society. Contemporary evaluations, emerging from changes in scientific knowledge and ideological priorities, have changed the way we view Freud's contributions to our understanding of self and society. This volume, meant to reflect the lively and eclectic spirit of the show, is a gathering of variously challenging, erudite, and amusing essays by scholars, critics, and writers.
    Grouped into four broad parts, the essays exemplify the diversity of approaches to Freudian theory and psychoanalysis. "Freud Writing and Working" concentrates on the sources he drew upon, his writing, rhetoric, and work habits. The pieces in "Interpretation, Suggestion, and Agency" deal with the evolution of Freud's theories and technique. "Absorption and Diffusion" concerns the spread of psychoanalysis, its reception, and its effects on our culture. "Contested Legacies" presents a variety of perspectives on what Freud has left to our time, and the conflicts resulting from our shifting conceptions of gender, the mind, and science.
    Freud: Conflict and Culture presents a fascinating spectrum of views on one of the most influential figures of the modern age.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sigmund Freud's legacy and reputation have been under attack for several decades, but when the Library of Congress originally planned its Freud exhibition in 1996, their work seemed to have been conceived in total denial of that fact, and critics cried foul. After two years of tinkering, the exhibit was finally rescheduled to open in October 1998, and this coinciding collection of essays reflects the intervening debate. Librarian of Congress James Billington sets the wary editorial tone of a somewhat altered book in his foreword, speaking for example of the "now famous" Freud-Fliess correspondence--although anyone who knows the history of that correspondence's suppression, never mind its content, might well conclude that the more appropriate adjective is "infamous."

Most of the 18 essays, however, remain tenderfooted and pious, especially those by analysts such as Ilse Gubrich-Simitis and Patrick Mahony. Hannah Decker's article on the Dora case mentions critics in passing, but likewise sidesteps the more unpleasant issues, writing that Freud eventually "acknowledged his errors and showed he had made significant advances." But many critics, unmentioned by Decker, have argued strenuously that there were no real advances; even if there were, it remains clear that they did not permit Freud to see his own behavior in an honest light. Some of the overtly Freudian contributors are more flexible and, by extension, more interesting: Peter Gay on psychohistory, for example, and Robert Coles on the social idealism accompanying the idea that psychoanalysis was a key to resolving human conflict. And, as a result of the 1996 controversy, topnotch critics of Freud such as Adolf Grunbaum are now grudgingly represented. Still, Peter Kramer's rueful retrospective could serve as a coda not only to the volume but to the current state of Freud studies: "Our vision of Freud is composed of extreme images that barely intersect." --Richard Farr

Review

"Accessible and engrossing....An exhilarating book to read."  -Kansas City Star

"Each contribution is thoughtful, articulate, and informative....Provide[s]...a hearing to both sides of Freud's contested legacy."  -Fort Worth Star-Telegram

"[A] multi-dimensional and fascinating viewof psychoanalysis and how its many tendrils still wind through our lives." --The Washington Times


From the Trade Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Unknown Binding: 273 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (October 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679451161
• ISBN-13: 978-0679451167
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,297,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plenty of Multiplicity, July 26, 2000

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Bruce P. Barten - See all my reviews

This review is from: Freud: Conflict and Culture: Essays on his life, work, and legacy

The Art Spiegelman contribution to this book is in comic book form, pp. 165-8. In tips on telling jokes, a current obsession with people who would like to be popular, but a plague for those people who think that they already are popular, Art illustrates a joke: "This guy think's he's a mirror so he goes to see a shrink." I'm not going to tell you the results. That would be too much like trying to read Mad magazine to my mother while she was ironing. Mark Twain was the guy who could be funnier, if Art quoted him right. "Everything human is pathetic." (p. 168)