Friends Summer TalksThree Evenings on the Theory of Sexuality
To further commemorate the centenary of Freud's Three Essays on Sexuality, we put on a series of exploratory talks and discussions for Friends of the Freud Museum. The talks took place on three Tuesday evenings in high summer, with the garden open and a glass of wine to welcome visitors.
Tuesday June 7th
Penny Siopis
Three Essays on Shame
In the first talk, Penny Siopis discussed her multi-media installation Three Essays on Shame. The series of objects, artworks and documentary material became the basis for exploring shame (sexual and political) in the evocative surroundings of Freud's former home. The doors were opened early to allow participants to see the show, and Penny opened proceedings with a fascinating talk in which she explored the graphic language of shame in the South African context. It was gratifying to see artists and members of the expatriate South African community coming to this event and engaging in passionate discussion.Tuesday June 28th
Susan Budd
No sex please - weíre British
Psychoanalyst Susan Budd discussed the continuing importance of Freud's Three Essays in the context of recent psychoanalytic theory. She stressed the radical nature of Freud's controversial work and his Darwinian roots in trying to answer the most fundamental question : why is human sexuality the way that it is? Freud regarded The Interpretation of Dreams and the Three Essays as the foundations of his new science. In asking whether contemporary psychoanalysis is still based on them today, Susan argued that the rise of the object-relations tradition, and the downplaying of the instinctual, has been used to deny the links which Freud was trying to make between sexuality and the body, childrensí sexual feelings and adult sexuality, sexual perversion as an inevitable part of normal sexual development and experience, and the close relationships between sexuality and love, sexuality and sadism. As a result, the Three Essays remains Freud's most controversial work.Tuesday July 12th
David Morgan
Perversion Today
Freud famously begins his Three Essays with an investigation of the perversions, which he saw as a 'fundamental human characteristic' and evidence of the composite nature of the sexual drive. Modern theories of perversion do not see them as survivals of elementary 'component instincts' but as complex behaviours designed to cope with the impact of overwhelming anxiety, or as thwarted attempts to establish intimacy. In a world in which perverse sexuality seems to be the staple diet of late night TV, do psychoanalytic theories of perversion still make sense? David Morgan used his long experience at the Portman Clinic to discuss the importance of the perversions today, when perverse behaviour becomes 'nornal'. In an erudite and often moving presentation he showed the deep hurt and unacknowledged trauma that often lies behind the indifferent facade.
Friends Winter Talks
Jokes and their relation to the unconscious
Fragment of an analysis of a case of hysteriaWe had so much sex this year that some Friends might have thought we had forgotten that 2005 was also the centenary of two other Freud texts: Jokes and their relation to the unconscious and Fragment of an analysis of a case of hysteria (The Case of Dora). To remedy the omission we asked Friends to join us for a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie for two evenings of celebration and exploration of these classic works.
Thursday December 8th
Claire Pajaczkowska and Barry Curtis (Middlesex University)
with Arnold Brown (Comedian)
Jokes, Language and Visual Pleasure
Freud published his book on Jokes in 1905. He focused his theory on the unconscious dynamics of joking and the way in which unconscious tension could be released thrrough the creative process of telling or hearing a joke. Engagingly introduced by Claire Pajaczkowska, this three-handed presentation with sociologist Barry Curtis and comedian Arnold Brown (who some readers will remember from the Humour conference of 1994) examined Freud's theory through the use of film clips, cartoons, TV sitcom and other visual material. Friends were asked to bring their favourite jokes with them and put them on the couch. It can safely be said that as far as Jewish humour is concerned (the subject of much of Freud's book) it is alive and well and living in Hendon.Thursday December 15th
Claire Pajaczkowska and Ivan Ward
Sigmund Freud's Dora
A case of mistaken identity
Claire once again (for the third time in a year) was generous with her time and intellectual goodwill to participate in this evening about Freud's case history. In the mid-1970s the 'Case of Dora' became something of a cause celebre in academic and feminist circles. Freud's failed case led him to a new understanding of female sexuality and a new appreciation of the importance of transference. This was a rare chance for Friends to see the film Sigmund Freud's Dora, made in 1979 in New York and based on Freud's text, and discuss some of the issues it raises with two of the film makers. The film dissects Freud's text and examines the construction of 'Dora' as an object of his writing. Avowedly 'modern' in its original intentions (eschewing period dress and using contemporary images which resonate with the underlying phantasies Freud reveals in the case) the film seemed surpisingly fresh after 25 years, and provoked extended discussion. Thanks to the help of the Anna Freud Centre it may not be such a rare event in the future, since we now have a DVD recording of the film.
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