LOT #42065 |
Sold on Jul 8, 2023 for: Not Sold
Sigmund Freud. Incredibly rare handwritten manuscript penned entirely in Freud's hand, applying the principles of psychoanalys...
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Description
An Extraordinarily Rare Handwritten Sigmund Freud Manuscript
Discussing Psychoanalysis and Dream Symbolism
Sigmund Freud. Incredibly rare handwritten manuscript penned
entirely in Freud's hand, applying the principles of psychoanalysis
to the interpretation of dreams in folklore. Träume Im
Folklore. 22 pages on 21 leaves (pages 4 and 5 on a
single leaf), written on rectos only; lacking the title page. 15.75
x 9.75 inches (400 x 250 mm), circa 1911. With typescript
pages supplied by David Ernst Oppenheim, being his notes on
folklore, pasted throughout, interpolated with glosses and
commentary, also by Oppenheim.In the summer or fall of 1909, Sigmund Freud received an article on folklore from Professor David Oppenheim. In it, Oppenheim, a student of classical mythology and literature, discussed folklore in terms of psychoanalysis, even going so far as to dedicate the piece to Freud. After reading it, Freud sent Oppenheim a reply, dated 28 October 1909, feeling that "in you [I recognize] a reader of my works who, behind all my different writings, has divined their deeper sense." Freud went on to explain that he had long thought that his theories of the neuroses, negative emotional states which stemmed from the suppression of unconscious sexual and aggressive urges, could be applied to mythology and finally solve the riddle of the formation of myths. However, he and his team were "lacking in academic training and familiarity with the material." Freud then posed: "Can it be that you are willing to be this man we are longing for?... Have you the leisure and inclination to plunge into it more deeply for these ends?" Thus began a professional relationship that led to Oppenheim being accepted as a member of the Vienna Psycho-Analytic Society in early 1910. The published minutes of the Vienna Society show that, between 1910 and 1911, Oppenheim read three "short communications," the first of which was titled "Folklore Material Bearing on Dream Symbolism," further serving as a stimulus for his developing collaboration with Freud.
Though the folk tales and stories that make up the manuscript's raw material were originally gathered by Oppenheim, the manuscript itself, barring a few marginal annotations and inserts, was written entirely by Freud. Oppenheim appears to have copied out his raw material, partly in typescript and partly by hand, and sent it to Freud, who then arranged it into a logical and coherent sequence, pasting in Oppenheim's original material and inserting his own extensive commentary from a psychoanalytic point of view. This commentary, as one might expect, continues to expound on his theories of dreams and psychosexual development as they relate to the fulfillment (or not) of humanity's basest desires and needs. For example, many of the ideas on penis symbolism and the phallic and genital stages of psychosexual development dealt with in Part I were first postulated and expounded upon in Freud's Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905), an application of his theories in The Interpretation of Dreams (1900) which would ultimately form the basis of his theory of psychosexual development. These theories are here developed through an exploration of folk tales and dreams from Ukrainian, Austrian, Belgian, Slavic, and German folklore, with connections to indigenous mythology in Mexico and literature from the Renaissance, including Poggio Bracciolini's Fecetiae (1470) and Rabelais's Pantagruel (1532). Freud notes that a number of the folk tales analyzed here were initially understood by commoners in terms of psychoanalysis - "that is, not as premonitions about a still unrevealed future, but as the fulfillment of wishes, the satisfaction of needs which arise during the state of sleep." Thus, erotic desire in folklore finds its expression in the usual phallic symbols: thread, minarets, an earthworm, a scepter, and even, described much more overtly in one Southern Slavic tale, a "long and red and blunted thing."
Similarly, Part II of the manuscript explores folklore as it pertains to the anal stage of psychosexual development. There are stories of treasure hunters expressing their need to hide or mark their gold, and peasants who spin thread in an attempt to get back down to Earth from Heaven. In many of these dreams, material need (hiding gold, spinning thread to reach a far-off destination that becomes increasingly unattainable) becomes a substitute for sexual need which, when unfulfilled, could lead to a regression in psychosexual development. In one tale from Prussian Silesia, a peasant spins thread in the manner of a spider to get from Heaven to Earth - thus, the "thread" is quite literally evacuated from Heaven (Paradise), and the object of desire is achieved. Though these stories are often indecent and obscene, Freud and Oppenheim saw them as representative of a long tradition of storytelling in which commoners have understood and interpreted dreams.
Freud ended his interpretation of dreams of folklore with an appeal to the common man and, by extension, their stories, impressions, and daily life: "We should like to express the view that it is doing the common people an injustice to assume that they employ this form of entertainment merely to satisfy their coarsest desires. It seems rather that behind these ugly facades are concealed mental reactions to impressions of life which are to be taken seriously, which even strike a sad note - reactions to which common people are ready to surrender, but only if they are accompanied by a yield of coarse pleasure."
Freud must have returned the whole manuscript to Oppenheim, presumably for a final revision prior to publication. However, in October of 1911, Oppenheim, along with five other members, resigned from the Vienna Psycho-Analytic Society and became adherents of Alfred Adler's school of Individual Psychology, leading to a disruption in his relationship with Freud. All references to the manuscript and Oppenheim disappeared from Freud's work except for a single footnote at the end of the third edition of The Interpretation of Dreams, which Freud had brought out in the spring of that year, prior to Oppenheim's departure from the Society. The footnote briefly mentions Oppenheim's work in connection with dreams in folklore and that a paper will soon appear on the subject. This footnote was omitted in all later editions of the work. Following the schism that occurred between Freud and Oppenheim, it was not until after the death of both authors, the ending of World War II, and the passage of some forty-seven years that Dreams in Folklore was finally published.
Oppenheim's career was cut short when the Third Reich annexed Austria in 1938. He and his wife were arrested and taken to the concentration camp at Theresienstadt where he died in 1943. His wife, Amelie, however, was among the liberated survivors. Miraculously, she had managed to preserve the original manuscript of Dreams in Folklore among her possessions.
Condition: Lacking only the first page with the title and Freud's introduction to the piece. Pages with generally crinkled edges, minor losses to inserted text of page 3 at the bottom, light foxing to typed 5, some marginal staining throughout, two small tears at bottom edge of 7, typed page pasted on 9 creased with numerous tears, some minor losses, crease to bottom left corner of 15 with numerous small tears to top edge, somewhat affecting text, small tears to top edge of 16, with loss of upper right corner, typed page on 17 loose with remnants of glue adhesive, typed page on 22 creased with minor losses affecting text, a few small tears along outer and bottom edges of 23, some staining to verso, scattered soiling, glue-stains from pasted-in typed pages, with some off-setting on versos. Pages numbered in pencil in upper right corner of rectos. Oppenheim has inserted commentary in pencil on pages 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 16, and 17. The manuscript rests in a cardboard folder with the title in pen on the front cover.
References: Sigmund Freud and David Ernst Oppenheim. Dreams in Folklore. Translated from the Original German Text by A.M.O. Richards. New York: International Universities Press, Inc., 1958; Herman Nunberg, ed. Minutes of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, Vol. 3: 1910-1911. New York: International Universities Press, Inc., 1974.
Provenance: Sigmund Freud/David Oppenheim - Amelie Oppenheim - Doris Liffman (née Oppenheim) - a prominent psychiatrist/psychoanalyst.
After the war, Professor Oppenheim's wife, Amelie, emigrated to Australia to be with her daughters, taking with her the manuscript. Upon her death, possession passed to Oppenheim's daughter, Doris Liffman (née Oppenheim), who then arranged, with the help of a well-known and respected New York antiquarian book dealer, to have the manuscript sent to New York, where it was acquired in 1956 by a prominent psychiatrist/psychoanalyst. Shortly thereafter, in 1958, the manuscript was published by International Universities Press, Inc., New York for the first time, in German, with an English translation. Later that same year, Volume XII of The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud was published by The Hogarth Press, London, in which was included the English translation (with a few small changes) of Dreams in Folklore.
Auction Info
2023 July 8 Historical Platinum Signature® Auction #6275 (go to Auction Home page)
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