The Dreams Freud Dreamed

It is a daring undertaking to search anew the dreams of the founder of the dream interpretation, taken out of the classical work from which a whole generation has learned the language of the unconscious, which once was also a revelation for me, and which will remain a masterpiece in the history of the understanding of the human mind.

In my original manuscript there followed at this place these words: “That Freud may, and I hope will be, among the readers of this work I consider a great privilege. For it would not be doing Freud a service to keep silent about convictions in matters of science. So I hope that my observations regarding his dreams will find his approval, because it was he who has taught us insight into our own weakness and to face the truth”.

After all, nothing is contradicted. All the explanations and interpretations of Freud remain unchanged. Merely a new determination is added. And yet I venture to say in advance that the interpretation which I arrived at is the dominant one, first, because it deals with an important problem in the life of the dreamer, and second, because it appears repeatedly in most of the dreams and in a dominating way. “Those ideas in the dream-thoughts which are most important are probably also those which recur most frequently, since the individual dream-thoughts radiate from them as centres.” (Freud)

The comparison with other interpretations in regard to their importance for the affective life of the dreamer will show beyond any doubt that other determinations presented in the book are of secondary importance.

I shall reproduce the detailed series of associations given in the book only in very condensed form. It is highly recommended that they be read in the original, which is open to every one.

It appears to me that the proofs which I present are neither far fetched nor arbitrary. The objective reader will probably agree