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Totem and Taboo. Some points of agreement between the mental lives of savages and neurotics. By Sigmund Freud. Translated by James Strachey (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1950. Pp. 172. 14 s.)
These are two further instalments of Mr. Strachey's new translation of Freud's writings. On Dreams is a small book, not particularly well known even by psycho-analysts. Totem and Taboo, on the other hand, is one of the most widely known of Freud's writings, and through long influence has carried the argument of psycho-analytic thought into general knowledge. When it first appeared, Totem and Taboo broke new ground, and it has proved to be the forerunner of a whole series of studies which apply psycho-analytic insights in the fields of anthropology and sociology.
On Dreams was published in 1901. The first English translation was made by Dr. Eder and published in 1914. For those to whom the work is not familiar the dust-jacket recommends it as "an easy introduction to the larger work'; it is also described as having been written a year after The Interpretation of Dreams as a résumé for the benefit of the general reader. However, its small size could be misleading, for the abridgement proves to be only a concentration, and as with all Freud's 'Introductions' and 'Outlines' the book requires a good deal of sophistication. It is, in fact, especially interesting for those who have read The