A Dream of Freud in the Year 1910

This paper is intended to provide a glimpse into what must have been a fragment of Freud's self-analysis in the year 1910. Most of our knowledge of Freud's self-analysis derives from his dreams in the late 1890s, when he was still engaged in his solitary research, and the only relationship from which he received encouragement and support was the one with Fliess. It is therefore of some historical and biographical interest to discuss a dream from 1910 when Freud's situation had very much changed. 1910 was a remarkable year in the history of psychoanalysis in that the International Psychoanalytic Association was launched. The idea for it had been conceived by Freud, its implementation was presented to the 2nd International Congress at Nuremberg by Ferenczi, and Jung was elected its first President. Ferenczi and Jung were probably the two men closest to Freud in that year, but psychoanalysis had already attracted numerous adherents among distinguished men from many parts of the world. By now Freud had to deal not only with the opposition of official science, but also with the temperaments, ambitions and theoretical disagreements of men who considered themselves psychoanalysts and constituted a group of his supporters. There were the tensions and conflicts that tend to arise among men of varied personalities and motives whose only tie to each other is a set of ideas and an ambivalent relationship to the man who originated these ideas. Freud at this point was deeply concerned for the future of psychoanalysis and he, the scientist, felt he also had to assume the role of statesman and politician. The question whether and how these external problems in Freud's life might be reflected in his dreams is an intriguing one.

The dream which I shall explore occurred in the night from 1st to 2nd October 1910. It was included as a footnote in the third edition of the 'Interpretation of Dreams' which appeared in 1911:

(Fragment) … Somewhere in Italy. Three daughters were sho