The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud
Cover of volume one of the first edition
|
|
| Author | Ernest Jones |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Sigmund Freud |
| Published | 1953 (Basic Books) 1961 (abridged edition) |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 428 (vol. 1) 512 (vol. 2) 537 (vol. 3) 670 (abridged edition) |
| ISBN | |
The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud is a biography of Sigmund Freud by Ernest Jones. The most famous and influential biography of Freud, The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud was originally published in three volumes (first volume 1953, second volume 1955, third volume 1957); a one-volume edition abridged by literary critics Lionel Trilling and Steven Marcus followed in 1961. When first published, The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud was acclaimed, and sales exceeded expectations. Although his biography has retained its status as a classic, Jones has been criticized for presenting an overly favorable image of Freud.
According to philosopher Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen and psychologist Sonu Shamdasani, the events leading to the writing of The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud occurred as follows. Leon Shimkin, director of Simon & Schuster, contacted Jones in October 1946, to ask whether he was interested in writing a biography of Freud. Jones in turn contacted Sigmund Freud's daughter, Anna Freud. Jones had recently taken sides with Melanie Klein in her dispute with Anna Freud. Consequently, Anna Freud was unsure how much she could trust Jones, and suggested that he collaborate with Siegfried Bernfeld, an old friend of hers. However, Bernfeld was even more suspicious of Jones than Anna Freud was, and was working on his own biography of Freud, meaning that a collaboration with Jones would conflict with his project. Nevertheless, Bernfeld was willing to work with Jones. After Jones displeased Anna Freud by writing a preface to Freud's The Question of Lay Analysis (1926) with which she disagreed, she asked Ernst Kris to inform Shimkin that she was considering withdrawing her agreement to Jones writing the book. Shimkin replied that Bernfeld should be entrusted with the task, with Anna Freud's assistance. Anna Freud did not wish to directly participate in writing the book, and therefore proposed instead that the it should be written by Bernfeld and Kris. In September 1947, the publisher offered Jones a contract. Nothing followed from this until 1950, when Jones wrote to Bernfeld to ask for his collaboration, along the lines originally discussed.
...
Wikipedia