Freud Reading Group​

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In April 1885, Sigmund Freud wrote to his fiancée that he had ‘almost completed  an undertaking which a number of people, still unborn but fated to misfortune, will  feel severely.’” Peter Gay (1988) begins his biography of Freud with this  anecdote, and while he notes that Freud was referring to his future biographers,  it isn't hard to read these words as a prescient remark on the effect  psychoanalysis would have on civilization.  

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Freud was a remarkable writer and an intrepid explorer of what most of us don't  want to know about, that is, the unconscious. His invention changed the world  and yet the same people who claim to carry on the work of psychoanalysis  continue, despite Lacan's interventions, to speak disparagingly of its founder.  While there is no perfect founding father, this disparagement of Freud often  amounts to resistance to what his life’s work makes us feel severely.  

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One cannot practice psychoanalysis without having spent time on the couch or  having read what Freud had to say about it. Moreover, the best introduction to  the work of Jacques Lacan isn’t Bruce Fink or Dany Nobus. It’s Freud himself.

 

Together, we'll explore Freud's theoretical papers, case studies and  metapsychological texts. We’ll discuss the ways they challenge and inspire us  and, importantly, how they inform our clinical practice.  

 

Readings for the 2024-25 Academic Year will include the following.  

 

Freud, S. The Interpretation of Dreams (1900). Volume V, The Standard Edition  of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.  

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Freud, S. New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, Lecture XXIX, “Revision  of the Theory of Dreams” (1932). Volume XXII, The Standard Edition of the  Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. 

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Freud, S. The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1901). Volume VI, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. 

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Freud, S. Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905). Volume VII, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.  

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Faculty: Nathan Lupo

Dates/Times: Second Sundays, 9:00 am - 11:00 am Pacific Time starting September 8th

Location: Online via Zoom 

Contact: nathanlupo.lmft@gmail.com 

Fee: By Donation to the School

Note: This will be a reading group