Against Freud
Critics Talk Back
Published on 2. May 2007
Book
Paperback/Softback
200 pages
978-0-8047-5548-1 (ISBN)
Description
Everyone agrees that Sigmund Freud has had a profound impact on Western society and intellectual life. But even today few people know much about his life and work beyond the legends that Freud and his adherents created, fostered, and repeated. The result is an enormous cross-disciplinary field characterized by contradiction and confusion. Only the experts could possibly make sense of it all-but not always, since no field is as thoroughly undercut by ideology, acrimony, and bad faith as psychoanalysis.
Against Freud collects the frank musings of some of the world's best critics of Freud, providing a convincing and coherent "case against Freud" that is as amusing as it is rigorously presented. Hailing from diverse academic backgrounds-history, philosophy, literary criticism, sociology, psychotherapy, and psychiatry-this diverse group includes renowned international figures such as Edward Shorter, Frank Sulloway, Frederick Crews, and Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen, as well as those who knew Freud and his family. Listen in on the critics and then decide for yourself whether or not "Freud is dead."
Against Freud collects the frank musings of some of the world's best critics of Freud, providing a convincing and coherent "case against Freud" that is as amusing as it is rigorously presented. Hailing from diverse academic backgrounds-history, philosophy, literary criticism, sociology, psychotherapy, and psychiatry-this diverse group includes renowned international figures such as Edward Shorter, Frank Sulloway, Frederick Crews, and Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen, as well as those who knew Freud and his family. Listen in on the critics and then decide for yourself whether or not "Freud is dead."
Reviews / Votes
"Todd Dufresne is the leading student of the Freud Wars of recent vintage. In his fascinating new book he assembles interviews with some of the leading Warriors, among them Frank Sulloway, Frederick Crews, and Edward Shorter. Dufresne himself is a Freud revisionist, but a judicious and learned one." - Paul Robinson (Stanford University) "A great deal of fascinating material is presented, little known outside the ranks of specialists." - Metapsychology "This is a fascinating work. Dufresne has taken a complex problem of great importance to contemporary culture and made it into a highly accessible volume that holds the reader's interest throughout." - Joel Paris (McGill University) "Against Freud makes a valuable contribution to contemporary scholarship by articulating the "revisionist" reading of psychoanalysis in an easily accessible volume." - H-GermanMore details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Palo Alto
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
268 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8047-5548-1 (9780804755481)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Todd Dufresne is Associate Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Lakehead University. He is the author of Tales from the Freudian Crypt: The Death Drive in Text and Context (Stanford, 2000) and Killing Freud.
Content
Contents Preface xxx Introduction: The Revised Life and Work of Sigmund Freud 1 1. "The Man Who Was Analyzed by Freud": Joseph Wortis on Freud, Freudians, and Social Justice 000 Interviewed by Todd Dufresne 2. An American Woman in Freud's Vienna: Esther Menaker on Freudianism and Her Analysis with Anna Freud 000 Interviewed by Todd Dufresne 3. Edward Shorter's Deflections on Medicine, History, and Psychoanalysis 000 Interviewed by Todd Dufresne 4. Psychoanalysis and Pseudoscience: Frank J. Sulloway Revisits Freud and His Legacy 000 Interviewed by Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen 5. Truth, Science, and the Failures of Psychoanalysis: Frederick Crews Reveals Why He Became a Freud Skeptic 000 Interviewed by Todd Dufresne 6. Freud and Interpretation: Frank Cioffi and Allen Esterson Discuss Freud's Legacy 000 Interviewed by Todd Dufresne 7. Schreber, Seduction, and Scholarship: Han Isra'ls on Idiots, Lunatics, and the Psychopathology of Freud Scholars 000 Interviewed by Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen and Sonu Shamdasani 8. Suggestion, Hypnosis, and the Critique of Psychoanalysis: Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen's "Return to Delboeuf" 000 Interviewed by Todd Dufresne 9. Freud, Parasites, and the "Culture of Banality": Todd Dufresne Speaks of Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Theory 000 Interviewed by Antonio Greco Suggested Readings 000 References 000 Index 000