Sigmund Freud revises his theory of the mind in this 1920 essay. Observing patients with traumatic neuroses after the First World War, and his grandson's game with a spool that he threw away and pulled back, he is struck by the human compulsion to repeat painful experiences. He concludes that not everything is guided by the pleasure principle and proposes a death drive, a tendency in living things to return to an inorganic state.
It is for readers of psychology and philosophy who want to read a central text of psychoanalysis directly. It is short, speculative and often argued with, which makes it worth reading in the original.
Deep, inward-looking and open-ended; a demanding read.
Best for readers like The Literary Connoisseur. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1920
- Language
- EN
