New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (The Standard Edition) (Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud) [Paperback]

Sigmund Freud (Author), James Strachey (Editor), Peter Gay (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud | Publication Date: February 17, 1990

Of the various English translations of Freud's major works to appear in his lifetime, only one was authorized by Freud himself: The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud under the general editorship of James Strachey.

Freud approved the overall editorial plan, specific renderings of key words and phrases, and the addition of valuable notes, from bibliographical and explanatory. Many of the translations were done by Strachey himself; the rest were prepared under his supervision. The result was to place the Standard Edition in a position of unquestioned supremacy over all other existing versions. Newly designed in a uniform format, each new paperback in the Standard Edition opens with a biographical essay on Freud's life and work —along with a note on the individual volume—by Peter Gay, Sterling Professor of History at Yale.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is one of the twentieth century's greatest minds and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology. His many works include The Ego and the Id; An Outline of Psycho-Analysis; Inhibitions; Symptoms and Anxiety; New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis; Civilization and Its Discontent, and others.

Peter Gay is the author of more than twenty-five books, including the National Book Award winner The Enlightenment, the best-selling Weimar Culture, and the widely translated Freud: A Life for Our Time. He lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; The Standard Edition edition (February 17, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039300743X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393007435
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #31 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Behavioral Sciences > Behavioral Psychology

More About the Author

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is one of the twentieth century's greatest minds and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology. His many works include The Ego and the Id; An Outline of Psycho-Analysis; Inhibitions; Symptoms and Anxiety; New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis; Civilization and Its Discontent, and others.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a spotty but valuable supplement to the general introduction, March 8, 2005

By 

Phil Myers (Brooklyn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (The Standard Edition) (Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud) (Paperback)

In these seven lectures, written in 1932, Freud supplements the "Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis" (also called the General Introduction to Psychoanalysis) delivered in 1915-17, with additions and amendments to his theory developed through the 1920s.

The lectures contain a clear, concise presentation of some of Freud's later theory (the super-ego, eros/thanatos, trauma). They also contain some of his most dubious constructs (the castration complex, penis-envy), and a bizzare treatment of female sexuality and super-ego formation that will seem sexist to the modern reader, if not outright misogynist. Sadly, the most controversial of these concepts are not illustrated with the kinds of clinical examples that readers of Freud will have come to expect, relish, and rely on, and thus are very difficult to come to grips with.

The remainder of the work is a rather cursory attack on various disciples and rivals, and an attempt to place psychoanalytic theory within a scientific worldview in contraposition to religion and Marxism, as well as a suprisingly credulous treatment of the occult.

For the educated layperson seeking a general familiarity with Freud, I would recommend beginning with the Introductory Lectures, and then cherrypicking lectures 31 and 32 of this work for a synopsis of later developments in the theory.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A SUPPLEMENT TO, BUT NO REPLACEMENT FOR, FREUD'S "INTRODUCTORY LECTURES", August 12, 2010

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (The Standard Edition) (Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud) (Paperback)

Freud's original New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (The Standard Edition)(Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud) were given in Vienna between 1915-1917. These "new lectures" were written in 1932. Freud notes in the Preface, "These new lectures, unlike the former ones, have never been delivered. My age had in the meantime absolved me from the obligation of giving expression to my membership of the University ... by giving lectures... The new lectures are by no means intended to take the place of the earlier ones... they are continuations and supplements."

Here are some representative quotations from the book:

"(T)he super-ego takes the place of the parental agency and observes, directs and threatens the ego in exactly the same way as earlier the parents did with the child."
"(T)he ego is the sole seat of anxiety."
"And here I should like to add that I do not think our cures can compete with those of Lourdes. There are so many more people who believe in the miracles of the Blessed Virgin than in the existence of the unconscious."
"Religion is an attempt to master the sensory world in which we are situated by means of the wishful world which we have developed within us as a result of biological and psychological necessities. But religion cannot achieve this."