7
Freud's Dream
of
Interpretation ~
SUNY Series in Modern Jewish Literature and Culture Sarah Blacher Cohen, Editor
Freud's Dream of
Interpretation
Ken Frieden
Foreword by Harold Bloom
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 1990 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
For information, address State University of New York Press , State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Frieden, Ken, 1955-
Freud's dream of interpretation I Ken Frieden . p. cm.--(SUNY series in modern Jewish literature and
culture) Bibliography: p. 143 Includes indices. ISBN 0-7914-0124-3.-ISBN 0-7914-0125-1 (pbk.) I. Dreams-History. 2. Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939.
3·. Dreams-Religious aspects-Judaism-History of doctrines. 4. Dreams in the Bible. 5. Judaism and psychoanalysis-History. I. Title. II. Series.
BFI078.F82 1990 154.6'34'092-dc20 89-4597
CIP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
It will not be easy for any reader of this book to put himself in the emotional position of the author-who does not understand the holy language, is completely estranged from the paternal religion, as from every other, and who cannot share nationalistic ideals; yet who has never denied belonging to his people, feels his particularity as Jewish and does not wish it otherwise . Were one to ask him: What is still Jewish about you, if you have given up all these mutualities with your fellow people? he would answer: Very much, probably the main thing. But he could not at present express this essential part in clear words. Sometime later it will certainly be accessible to scientific inspection .
-Sigmund Freud, Preface to the Hebrew edition of Totem und Tabu
How wonderful and new and at the same time how frightful and ironic I feel, directed toward the whole of existence with my knowledge! I have discovered for myself that in me ancient humanity and the animal world, even the entire primeval age and past of all sentient being continues to invent , love, hate, conclude-I have suddenly awakened in the midst of this dream, but only to the consciousness that I am dreaming and that I must go on dreaming, in order not to perish: as a sleepwalker must go on dreaming in order not to fall .
-Friedrich Nietzsche, Die frohliche Wissenschaft
Contents
Foreword Preface Introduction
1.
2.
3.
4.
Freud: Interpreter and Seducer Freud's Path to Dreams • Against the Past • Interpretation by Correspondence and Displacement • "Free" Association • Revisions of Secondary Revision • Freud's Monopoly and the Dream Facade • Occupation and Resistance
Joseph and Daniel: Disguises and Interpretive Power "Will You Rule Over Us?" • "Do Not Interpretations Belong to God? Tell Me" • "As He Interpreted to Us, So It Was" • "This Is Your Dream" • "Worship the Image of Gold" • "Mene Mene Teqel Upharsin" • "Your God .. . Will Deliver You"
Bar Hedia and R. Ishmael: Battles of Interpretation "A Dream That Is Not Interpreted .. . " • "All Dreams Follow the Mouth" • "Your Father Has Left You Money in Cappadocia" • "Because of Your Mouth . .. "
Freud: Demystification and Denial Dreams of Prophecy and Telepathy • The Prophetic Interpreter • Languages of Dreams • Dreams of Wordplay • An Absurd Decree • The Grand Verneinung
Conclusion References Indices
ix xi I
9
47
73
95
133 139 151
