Books by Ilse Grubrich-Simitis

This book blazes a trail in Freud research. Ilse Grubrich-Simitis, a prominent authority on Freud, examines and deciphers Freud's original manuscripts--which had remained disregarded for decades. From these she analyzes Freud's method of working and points out what the writings reveal of his psychological states, the events in his life, and the development of his thinking over time. The book is at once a study of Freud's creativity as a scientist and writer, an important reference on the texts themselves, and a commentary on previously unexplored aspects of Freud's life and work. Examining many hitherto unknown texts, Grubrich-Simitis provides a fresh and authentic picture of the discoverer of the unconscious at work: observing, listening to his patients, gathering the raw material for his oeuvre, fantasizing, drawing conclusions, drafting, rewriting, and correcting. She refutes the legend of the facility of Freud's production, for the notes, drafts, fair copies, and variants she identifies bear witness to the fact that almost every work actually came into being by a process of consuming hard labor. Grubrich-Simitis's analysis of Freud's manuscripts is flanked by two shorter sections on Freud's printed texts: in one she recounts the history of the editions from the beginnings in Vienna to the present day, and in the other she offers a detailed plan for a new historical-critical edition of his works.

Ilse Grubrich-Simitis, well-known as a Freud scholar and editor of Freud's works, has long advocated a return to his original texts in order to comprehend fully the power and innovative force of his theories. In "Early Freud and Late Freud" she examines the earliest psychoanalytic book, "Studies on Hysteria", which Freud wrote together with Breuer, and "Moses and Monotheism", Freud's last book. The essay on "Studies on Hysteria" reveals to the reader why that book is indeed the `primal book' of psychoanalysis. Not only does it offer a moving and dramatic account of the birth of the psychoanalytic method, but by introducing the key concept of trauma it establishes a foundation on which much of modern psychoanalysis has been built. Freud was to return to his original theory of trauma in his last book, "Moses and Monotheism", where he developed it further in the light of his intervening researches. On the basis of her study of the Moses manuscripts and by applying the psychoanalytic method, Ilse Grubrich-Simitis shows how contemporary traumatic events in Nazi Germany may have influenced this return to the beginning and the intensification of Freud's self-analysis. This in turn was to lead to new insights into archaic forms of defence, pointing the way forward for modern psychoanalysis. Elegantly constructed and persuasively argued, "Early Freud and Late Freud" re-establishes the importance of two major Freudian texts, offering a new understanding of their significance.