Re-Reading Freud's Three Essays

Before we start with the discussion of some of the major problems and decisions in the translation of the first edition of Freud's Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, and the discussion of the theoretical ideas we developed, I would first like to say something about our project and the context in which it is situated. I will then shortly highlight some of the issues relevant in our reading oft he text. After that Philippe Van Haute and Ulrike Kistner will present our thoughts on two prominent issues in the translation project, namely that of the translation of Geschlechtstrieb and Sexualtrieb and the translation of Lutschen and Wonnesaugen.

Philippe and I started this project of re-reading the Three Essays about three years ago. At that moment there already was a prehistory that led to the project. Philippe had already extensively worked on Freud's early theories of hysteria and sexuality, on the non-Oedipal character of Freud's early theories, and on the Freudian method as a pathoanalysis of human existence. I had already worked on Freud, notably on his theories on the sense of guilt and on his writings on religion as a cultural phenomenon in which this sense of guilt is a predominant factor. Our cooperation has its roots in the Freud Research Group, which is actually a kind of informal work group and subdivision of the ISPP, of which we are both members, and which has set itself as a task to closely read and discuss Freud's texts in the original German language. This is where our project took off, that is, a re-reading of the first version of the Three Essays “from scratch.” That is to say, a reading of the first version from 1905—a version that has only 80 pages, much less pages than the final version from 1924 in which Freud had inserted new theoretical material that according to himself was merely additions completing the theory, but in fact contained new theoretical material that fundamentally disrupted the original ideas and perspectives. The common readi