Freud Reading Group​

​​

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 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. 

 

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 by Bruce Fink or Darian Leader. 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: 

​

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

Freud, S. and Breuer, J. Studies in Hysteria (1895). Volume II, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.

Freud, S. A Case of Hysteria (1905). Volume VII, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.

Freud, S. Five Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1909). Volume XI, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.

​

Faculty: Nathan Lupo

Dates/Times: Second Sundays, 9:00 am - 11:00 am Pacific Time starting September 14th

Location: Online via Zoom 

Contact: nathanlupo@proton.me

Fee: $100 or School Tuition

Note: This will be a reading group