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Praise for A Dream of Undying Fame
“A thoughtful and incisive assessment of psychoanalytic theory and
practice, its permanent contributions, and its serious flaws. In highly
accessible language and style, Louis Breger leads us through Freud’s early
experiences, which were to influence his later theories, and his dreams of
martial glory, giving due credit to Joseph Breuer, the first practitioner of
the talking cure. He sets us straight on the often distorted history of
Anna O. and Freud’s infatuation with his male friends while appraising
the validity of his theories as they developed along the way. Readers who
appreciate a serious scientific book that reads like a detective thriller will
be totally captured by A Dream of Undying Fame.”
—Sophie Freud, Professor Emerita at the
Simmons College School of Social Work,
author of Living in the Shadow of the Freud Family
“Louis Breger’s compassionate, brilliant and spellbinding retelling of the
origins of psychoanalysis, seen through the lens of Freud’s trauma history,
intense longings, and profound ambition, should be required reading for
anyone interested in the foundations of one of the most influential
theories of the 20thcentury. By telling the story of Freud and his
relationships, Breger both challenges the dogmas that have stymied so
many psychoanalytic historians, and illuminates the dynamics and
entanglements at the heart of psychoanalysis’ marvelous breadth and
inherent limitations.”
—Arietta Slade, Professor of Clinical Psychology,
City University of New York
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“Louis Breger has followed up his splendid biography of Freud with an
expanded account of Freud’s early cases and the dynamics of his troubled
relationships with Josef Breuer and Wilhelm Fliess. He brilliantly shows
that the evidence on which psychoanalysis is based has much more to do
with trauma, loss, and superego problems than with sexual conflicts.”
—Bernard J. Paris, Professor of English,
University of Florida,
author of Karen Horney: A Psychoanalyst’s
Search for Self-Understanding
“A Dream of Undying Famebrilliantly illuminates the tensions in play at the
very conception of psychoanalysis. Anyone who has participated in
psychoanalytic treatment or studies modern intellectual history will find
this story unforgettable.”
—Leslie Brothers, MD, author of Friday’s Footprint and Mistaken Identity
“A masterful, extremely readable account of the early origins of
psychoanalysis, illuminating Freud’s driving need to establish his own
singular fame, even as it depicts with respect the revolutionary changes his
work wrought in our understanding of what it means to be human.”
—George E. Atwood, Professor of Psychology, Rutgers University
“Fascinating and persuasive. . . . Writing with both clinical and scholarly
authority, Louis Breger shows that Josef Breuer deserves more credit for
his contribution to psychoanalysis. A Dream of Undying Famecasts much
light on many crucial issues in contemporary psychoanalysis, and it will
be of great interest to anyone who wishes to learn more about the talking
cure and Studies on Hysteria.”
—Jeffrey Berman, PhD, Distinguished Teaching Professor, SUNY at Albany
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A DREAM OF
UNDYING FAME
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ALSO BY LOUIS BREGER
Clinical Cognitive Psychology
(editor)
The Effect of Stress on Dreams
(with I. Hunter and R. W. Lane)
From Instinct to Identity:
The Development of Personality
Freud’s Unfinished Journey: Conventional and
Critical Perspectives in Psychoanalytic Theory
Dostoevsky: The Author as Psychoanalyst
Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision
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A Dream of
Undying Fame
How Freud Betrayed His Mentor
and Invented Psychoanalysis
Louis Breger
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
New York
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Copyright © 2009by Louis Breger
Published by
Basic Books, A Member of the Perseus Books Group
387Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10016
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of
this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written
permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical
articles and reviews. For information, address the Perseus Books Group,
387Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810.
Books published by Basic Books are available at special discounts for
bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and
other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special
Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300Chestnut Street,
Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 255-1514, or e-mail
[email protected].
Designed by Timm Bryson
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Breger, Louis, 1931-
A dream of undying fame : how Freud betrayed his mentor and invented
psychoanalysis / Louis Breger.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-465-01735-5(alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-465-01735-5(alk. paper)
1. Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939. 2. Breuer, Josef, 1842-1925. 3. Freud, Sigmund, 1856-
1939. Studien über Hysteria. 4. Psychoanalysts—Biography. 5. Psychoanalysis—History.
I. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939. 2. Breuer, Josef, 1842-1925. 3. Freud,
Sigmund, 1856-1939. Studien über Hysteria. 4. Psychoanalysis—Biography.
5. Psychoanalysis—history. 6. History, 19th Century. 7. History, 20th Century.
WZ 100B8335d 2009]
BF109.F74.B7372009
150.19'52092—dc22
[B]
2009019970
10987654321
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If his inmost heart could have been laid open, there
would have been discovered that dream of undying
fame; which dream as it is, is more powerful than
a thousand realities.
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
Fanshawe, 1828
The expectation of eternal fame was so beautiful,
as was that of certain wealth, complete independ-
ence, and lifting the children above the severe wor-
ries that robbed me of my youth. Everything
depended upon whether or not hysteria would come
out right.
SIGMUND FREUD
letter to Wilhelm Fliess, 1897
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FOR BARBARA
Muse, Collaborator, and True Love
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CONTENTS
Exploring the Irrational 1
ONE
The Vision of a Heroic Self 5
TWO
A Scientist Treats the Passions 21
THREE
The Talking Cure: Josef Breuer and Anna O. 29
FOUR
Meaning Out of Chaos 49
FIVE
Among the Afflicted 71
SIX
Freud’s “Only Other” 83
SEVEN
Inventing a Universal “Scientific” Law 91
EIGHT
Full Circle 99
NINE
Acknowledgments 119
Notes 121
Bibliography 133
Index 139
vii
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