Freud Reading Group
Ongoing
“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.
Freud was a remarkable thinker and an intrepid explorer of the human psyche. His discovery of the unconscious and the invention of psychoanalysis changed the world and yet some of the same people who claim to carry on the work of psychoanalysis continue to speak disparagingly of its founder.
While there is no perfect founding father, one cannot in good conscience practice what is called 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 is 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:
Freud, S. A Case of Hysteria (1905). Volume VII, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.
Freud, S. “The Dynamics of the Transference,” (1912). Volume XII, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.
Freud, S. “Recommendations for Physicians on the Psychoanalytic Method of Treatment,” (1912). Volume XII, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.
Freud, S., “On Beginning the Treatment (Further Recommendations on the Technique of Psychoanalysis I),” (1913). Volume XII, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.
Freud S. “Remembering, Repeating and Working Through (Further Recommendations on the Technique of Psychoanalysis II),” (1914). Volume XII, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.
Freud, S. “Observations on Transference-Love (Further Recommendations in theTechnique of Psychoanalysis III),” (1915). Volume XII, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.
Freud, S. The Ego and the Id (1923). Volume XIX, The Standard Edition of theComplete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.
Freud, S. “A Child is Being Beaten,” (1919). Volume XIX, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.
This will be a Reading Group. Readings should be completed prior to meetings.
Faculty: Nathan Lupo
Dates and times: Second Sundays, 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time Starting September 8th
Location: Online via Zoom
Contact: nathanlupo@pm.me
Fee: $250 or School Tuition
