Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams
A Reappraisal

Freud always regarded The Interpretation of Dreams, and in particular its thesis that dreams fulfill wishes, as his landmark contribution and the scaffolding of his subsequent work. Susan Sugarman, after carefully examining the text and scrutinizing a range of Freud's other works, shows that the dreams book is not and cannot be that scaffolding. For, not only does his argument on dreams falter, but his reasoning elsewhere – in his case histories, his accounts of phenomena of ordinary waking life, and even his avowedly speculative writing – displays a strength and precision his account of dreams lacks. She concludes by exploring what is then left of the dreams theory and Freud's overall vision of the mind.

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‘Sugarman throws into relief the basic argumentative lines of the Interpretation of Dreams in particular and of Freud’s theory as a whole, and the result of her analysis is a novel view of what this theory achieves. Her masterly presentation, clear throughout, knowledgeable and yet concise, gives us a new Freud, one critically examined, but no less fertile in understanding the human mind.’ Rüdiger Bittner, Universität Bielefeld, Germany

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Product details

• Date Published: October 2023
• format: Paperback
• isbn: 9781009244169
• length: 194 pages

• dimensions: 215 x 139 x 11 mm
• weight: 0.26kg
• availability: Available