Freud: A Life for Our Time (Paperback)

~ (Author) "On November 4, 1899, the house of Franz Deuticke, Leipzig and Vienna, published a substantial volume by Sigmund Freud, Die Traumdeutung..." (more)
Key Phrases: totem work, wild analyst, metapsychological papers, Ernest Jones, United States, Anna Freud (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A magisterial contribution to the history of ideas. A fresh, illuminating perspective on one of the pivotal figures of our time. -- J. Anthony Lukas

Brilliant. . . . A dazzling performance. . . . Gay's ability to integrate into a coherent whole the vast published and unpublished literature on Freud-including hundreds of previously unknown or inaccessible letters-is awesome. . . . A work of art. -- Jonathan Sharp, San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle

Intelligent and wholly absorbing. . . . [A] judicious, original biography, scrupulously grounded in close readings of [Freud's] work. . . . For the lay reader one of the virtues of this biography is Gay's lucid and succinct analysis of Freud's essential texts. -- Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

[This] remarkable biography . . . briskly traces the story of Freud's life and education, deftly weaving the familiar narrative with a style that makes it seem fresh and lively. -- Chicago Tribune

Product Description

A New York Times bestseller in hardcover, this is the most highly regarded biography of Freud ever written. To read this book is to enter the world of Sigmund Freud as never before: his family, his city, his professional struggles, his long fruitful and embattled life. Drawing on a vast store of unpublished documents, including hundreds of hitherto unknown or inaccessible letters, Peter Gay deals frankly with the controversies that have long swirled around Freud's impassioned friendships, his love life, and his theoretical innovations which, as Freud himself put it, agitated the sleep of mankind.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 810 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393318265
• ISBN-13: 978-0393318265
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #632,946 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A moving portrait of a brilliant thinker, February 22, 2000

By	C. Hulshof "Sic transit gloria mundi" (Enschede, OV Netherlands) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a scholarly work, full of intricate details about the life and times of the father of the psychoanalytic movement. Everything, from Freud's private life to his theoretical views is discussed. Gay debunks many myths that surround Freud, and everywhere the enormous amount of research that has gone into the work shows through. For those interested in the psychoanalytic movement, and for those who want to know more about the man who changed our world-view, this is a definite must-read.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very complete biography, February 22, 2004

By	lordhoot "lordhoot" (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This biography on Sigmund Freud proves to be a total integration of all aspects of Freud's life. Everything from his psycho-analysis works to his family life, Jewish background to the political climate that surrounded his life were all integrated in this book in one massive volume. The book proves to be well written and relatively objective in outlook as the author maintain an even kneel toward his subject. I found the book to be quite informative and full of interesting insights on Freud's motives and actions.

It seem to the author that Freud's life really didn't start until he published his famous book, Interpretation of Dreams. Roughly a hundred pages covered his life prior to that and rest of 550 pages covered his life after that. There is another 150 pages of source materials and index just to let you know how thick this book can be. (Hardback)

It should be warned that due to an overwhelming amount of information provided in this book, most of the first time readers into Freud's life would probably suffer from information overload. Many of the technical terms used in Freud's work were not meant for casual readers. This biography is quite complex in nature and content. I would recommend reading couple of shorter and simpler biographies on Freud before moving up to this book. If not, you will just slog through this book like being stuck in a giant swamp of information.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent writing, December 19, 2003

By	Avid Reader (Franklin, Tn) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Peter Gay has given us yet another intelligent and stimulating work. The book was highly praised in a review and although I would have never thought it possible, the writing transported one back to the Europe of the early 20th century. In many aspects Freud was a typical bourgeois Jew - intellectual, deeply opinionated, haughty, wealthy, well-mannered and hard-working.

His group-breaking advances are explained in detail as well as his ideas on several modern practices he patented - therapy, the id, ego and superego, guilt, eroticism. It was the latter on which he rested his claim for in his exploration of sexuality he thinks he has discovered the core of each of us. We are, he states, sexual creatures and all our decisions and thought processes are geared around that fact.

The triune history - Freud's, psychotherapy, Europe - combine to form a dazzling work in which the author shows a real empathy for his subject. One of the best around.