Sigmund Freud did not believe that all repressed human feelings were due to erotic fantasies, according to a scholar who has uncovered the reason behind this popular misconception.
After a re-examination of one of the psychoanalyst’s key works, The Interpretation of Dreams, Mark Solms revealed that mistranslations have led people to have the wrong impression of the Austrian’s views, which are often considered controversial and outlandish.
Solms, a renowned South African psychoanalyst, will correct several errors in the revised English edition of the work and aims to challenge the misconception that Freud believed the erotic drive was the driving factor behind much human behavior.
He said The Guardian that Freud had a “very broad understanding of sexuality.”
“For him, any activity that was a pursuit of pleasure in itself – anything one does solely for pleasure purposes, as opposed to practical purposes – was ‘sexual,'” he said.
The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, has been revealed to not have been as obsessed with sex as many people believe.
One of Freud’s most widely recognized theories is the Oedipus complex, named after the Greek hero who had sexual relations with his mother and murdered his father.
Mark Solms, a renowned South African psychoanalyst, will correct several errors in a revised English edition of Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams. Pictured: Solms attends the Neuropsychoanalysis Foundation’s second annual benefit event at his private residence in New York on November 5, 2009.
Thus, a child sucking on a pacifier or playing with a ball were seen by Freud as “sexual,” in the sense that they were pure sources of pleasure.
Solms believes that this theory extended the word “so far from common usage that it led to a significant misunderstanding of his theories.”
Because of this, activities that were purely pleasurable but not “sexual” in the common sense of the word were pushed into the deceptive category, he added.
The academic said the idea that everything was connected to libido was a misinterpretation of Freud’s theory and who he was as an individual.
Speaking about the artists who took Freud as inspiration for their works, he said: “None of them understood that Freud was a rather conservative gentleman and did not share any of his revolutionary social inclinations.”
According to the psychoanalyst, these artists were also wrong about Freud’s theories.
“His artistic taste was also very conservative. Freud described Dalí as a fanatic,” he added.
One of Freud’s most widely recognized theories is the Oedipus complex, named after the Greek hero who had sexual relations with his mother and murdered his father.
In Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams, the founder of psychoanalysis proposed the controversial psychoanalytic theory that young children feel sexual desire toward their mother and hostility toward their father.
These feelings are largely repressed due to fear of displeasure or punishment from the same-sex parent, the theory goes.
These taboo theories have made him a controversial figure, but Solm aims to clear Freud’s name by saying: “There are some people who would rather see Freud forgotten than retranslated.”
“They would prefer to have it erased from history.”
Solms’ complete revised edition, a 24-volume set, was commissioned by the British Psychoanalytical Society to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of the last segment of Freud’s works.
It will be launched in Britain at the Freud Museum in London on 19 September, two days before a special lecture at University College London.
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