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Valerie D. Greenberg, a professor of German at Tulane University, joins the scholars exploring Freud's early writings in order to deepen the understanding of his great creation, psychoanalysis. Greenberg has chosen to research Freud's first book titled in English On Aphasia (1953) and in German Zur Auffassung der Aphasien: Eine Kritische Studie (1891) (On Interpretation of the Aphasias: A Critical Study). Greenberg's aim is twofold: to “fill the gaps” remaining in relation to understanding Freud as a neurologist and researcher, and to trace “the origins of psychoanalysis in late-nineteenth-century intellectual culture, particularly the preoccupation with language” (p. 1). Freud's On Aphasia has not received the attention it deserves as “a rarity among medical treatises of its time for its combination of self-conscious composition, rigorous argument, and pointed rhetorical effects, as well as for the audacity of its agenda” (p. 2).
The late nineteenth century was fascinated by the questions posed by aphasic patients, whose disturbances challenge the understanding of neurologists, pathologists, scientists, philosophers, and linguists. The tentative answers to such questions touched upon the nature of the brain and its functioning, the structure of words and language, and the theory of mind—body relations. An international community of aphasia scholars in France, England, Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the United States were steeped in each other's books and papers. Greenberg's book focuses on “how Freud positioned himself” (p. 4) in the exciting context of the aphasia scientists of his day. Freud was thoroughly familiar with the publications of the international community. He chose defiantly to: confront and refute the great German masters Wernicke, Lichtheim, Grashey, and Meynert, while supporting his conclusions with the help of the theorizing of Hughlings Jackson, Bastian, and Heubner as well as with any reported contribution that could support rhetorical