Freud and Man's Soul

Book excerpt: Has Sigmund Freud been seriously misunderstood? The author of The Uses of Enchantment argues that mistranslation has distorted Freud's work in English and led students to see a system intended to cooperate flexibly with individual needs as a set of rigid rules to be applied by external authority. This provocative argument cuts through the myths to reveal a greater, more compassoinate and also far more disturbing figure. "VITAL...an eloquent attempt to reclaim Freud's reputation in America." —THE NEW YORK TIMES "Lucid and provocative." —THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW