The Cambridge Companion to Freud

The Cambridge Companion to Freud
Cover
Editor Jerome Neu
Country United States
Language English
Series Cambridge Companions
Subject Sigmund Freud
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Publication date
 1991
Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages 356
ISBN 0-521-37779-X

The Cambridge Companion to Freud is a 1991 collection of articles about Sigmund Freud edited by the philosopher Jerome Neu. The book received both positive and negative reviews. Some of the individual contributions received praise, but reviewers criticized the exclusion of particular topics.

Summary

The Cambridge Companion to Freud includes an introduction by Jerome Neu, and essays on various topics related to Freud.[1] These discussions include those by the cultural historian Carl Emil Schorske on Freud's views on "the implications of individual psychodynamics for civilization as a whole",[2] the intellectual historian Gerald N. Izenburg on Freud's seduction theory,[3] the philosopher Clark Glymour on Freud's views in relation to cognitive psychology,[4] the philosopher James Hopkins on Freud's theory of dreams,[5] the philosopher Sebastian Gardner on the unconscious,[6] the psychoanalyst Bennett Simon and the psychologist Rachel B. Blass on Oedipus complex,[7] Neu on Freud's views on sexual perversion and sexuality in general,[8] the philosopher Jennifer Church on morality and the superego,[9] the psychoanalyst Nancy Chodorow on Freud's views on women,[10] the philosopher Richard Wollheim on the relevance of Freud's views to art,[11] the anthropologist Robert A. Paul on Freud's "cultural books" Totem and Taboo (1913), Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1921), Civilization and Its Discontents (1929), and Moses and Monotheism (1939),[12] and the philosopher John Deigh on The Future of an Illusion (1927) and Civilization and Its Discontents.[13] The book also reprints a review of the philosopher Adolf Grünbaum's The Foundations of Psychoanalysis (1984) by the philosopher David Sachs.[14]

Publication history

The Cambridge Companion to Freud was published by Cambridge University Press in 1991.[15]

Reception

The Cambridge Companion to Freud received negative reviews from the sociologist Christopher Badcock in the British Journal of Sociology and Brayton Polka in History of European Ideas,[16][17] and positive reviews from the historian Sander Gilman in Medical History and the philosopher Marcia Cavell in Ethics.[18][19] It also received reviews from Badcock in Sociology,[20] the philosopher Andrew Brook in Philosophy in Review and Leonard Groopman in the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association,[21][22] and a notice in Isis.[23]

Badcock, in his review of the book in the British Journal of Sociology, wrote that it, "perpetuates many errors and misunderstandings of Freud's work", for example by confusing the psychoanalytic concept of repression with Marxist views and offering a one-sided view of Freud as a "liberator of sexuality". He criticized Paul's discussion of Totem and Taboo, writing that Paul, motivated by the wish to correct Freud's Lamarckism, "read more recent ideas on cultural and genetic evolution into Freud's texts". He found Deigh's essay on Freud's later theory of civilization rewarding, but wrote that it was the only contribution he would be "adding to his reading lists".[16] Polka found the book disappointing, writing that it "lacks a comprehensive conception or vision uniting the disparate essays as a whole" and failed to make clear why Freud was important and what could be learned from him.[17]

Gilman considered the book useful and well-written, and praised several contributions, including Neu's chapter on sexual perversion, Schorske's discussion of the psychodyanmics of civilization, and Wollheim's discussion of aesthetics. He called Izenberg's discussion of the seduction theory "balanced and readable", and believed it benefited from the most recent discussions of the topic, and also complimented Hopkins's discussion of The Interpretation of Dreams (1899), Chodorow's discussion of Freud's understanding of women, and the contributions by Paul and Deigh. However, he felt that Gardner's discussion of the unconscious would have benefited from "attention to the older discussion of the pre-history of the unconscious", and that the book as a whole would have been improved by the inclusion of a discussion of the young Freud and his interests.[18]

Cavell described the book as "very useful". Though she noted that some important topics were omitted, she added that "most of the salient ones are here and thoughtfully treated." She considered it appropriate that all the authors represented in the book "write from a position somewhere within the Freudian camp", though she noted that some would regard it as a weakness. She wrote that several essays contained valuable overviews of changes in Freud's views on particular topics, giving as examples Paul and Deigh's discussions of instinct theory, Izenburg's discussion of the seduction theory, Simon and Blass's discussion of the Oedipus complex, Neu's discussion of sexuality, and Chodorow's discussion of female psychology. She credited Hopkins with providing the most lucid explanation of "ordinary explanations of actions in terms of motives or beliefs and desires" that she had ever seen. She found Paul's discussion of Freud's "myth of the primal horde" interesting, but criticized him for "leaving in place ... Freud's arguably grandiose view of the oedipal complex as an inscription in the very brain of the human infant" and for failing to "question such Freudian assumptions as that explaining intrapsychic conflict requires two basic instincts." She criticized Deigh and Church for failing to "question Freud's narrow view of self-interest" and his "assumption that only self-interest can ground love for the other."[19]

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Neu 1991, pp. v–vi, 1–7.
  2. ↑ Schorske 1991, pp. 8–24.
  3. ↑ Izenburg 1991, pp. 25–43.
  4. ↑ Glymour 1991, pp. 44–85.
  5. ↑ Hopkins 1991, pp. 86–135.
  6. ↑ Gardner 1991, pp. 136–160.
  7. ↑ Simon & Blass 1991, pp. 161–174.
  8. ↑ Neu 1991, pp. 175–208.
  9. ↑ Church 1991, pp. 209–223.
  10. ↑ Chodorow 1991, pp. 224–248.
  11. ↑ Wollheim 1991, pp. 249–266.
  12. ↑ Paul 1991, pp. 267–286.
  13. ↑ Deigh 1991, pp. 287–308.
  14. ↑ Sachs 1991, pp. 309–338.
  15. ↑ Neu 1991, p. iv.
  16. 1 2 Badcock 1993, pp. 549–550.
  17. 1 2 Polka 1995, p. 571.
  18. 1 2 Gilman 1992, pp. 477–478.
  19. 1 2 Cavell 1994, pp. 902–904.
  20. ↑ Badcock 1992, pp. 723–724.
  21. ↑ Brook 1993, pp. 43–45.
  22. ↑ Groopman 1994, pp. 910–912.
  23. ↑ Isis 1992, p. 538.

Bibliography

Books

  • Bennett, Simon; Blass, Rachel B.; Neu, Jerome, Editor (1991). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.
  • Chodorow, Nancy J.; Neu, Jerome, Editor (1991). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.
  • Church, Jennifer; Neu, Jerome, Editor (1991). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.
  • Deigh, John; Neu, Jerome, Editor (1991). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.
  • Gardner, Sebastian; Neu, Jerome, Editor (1991). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.
  • Glymour, Clark; Neu, Jerome, Editor (1991). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.
  • Hopkins, James; Neu, Jerome, Editor (1991). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.
  • Izenberg, Gerald N.; Neu, Jerome, Editor (1991). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.
  • Neu, Jerome; Neu, Jerome (1991). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.
  • Paul, Robert A.; Neu, Jerome (1991). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.
  • Sachs, David; Neu, Jerome, Editor (1991). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.
  • Schorske, Carl E.; Neu, Jerome, Editor (1991). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.
  • Wollheim, Richard; Neu, Jerome, Editor (1991). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.
Journals

  • Badcock, Christopher (1993). "The Cambridge Companion to Freud (Book)". British Journal of Sociology. 44 (3).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Badcock, Christopher (1992). "The Cambridge Companion to Freud (Book)". Sociology. 26 (4).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Brook, Andrew (1993). "Jerome Neu, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Freud Reviewed by Andrew Brook". Philosophy in Review. 13 (1).
  • Cavell, Marcia (1994). "Book reviews". Ethics. 104 (4).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Gilman, Sander (1992). "The Cambridge companion to Freud". Medical History. 36 (4).
  • Groopman, Leonard (1994). "The Cambridge Companion to Freud". Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. 42 (3).
  • Polka, Brayton (1995). "Book reviews". History of European Ideas. 21 (4).
  • "Book reviews: Collections". Isis. 83 (3). 1992.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
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