From the earliest days of psychoanalysis, memory was a key topic of concern. If, as Freud and Breuer maintained in the Studies on Hysteria, ‘hysterics fall ill from reminiscences’, then the act of remembering, or the impossibility of remembering, lies at the heart of the neurotic symptom, the treatment of which inaugurated the psychoanalytic endeavour. As Freud developed the concepts and methods that underpin the talking cure and the psychoanalytic world view, the ‘mixing’ of ‘memory and desire’, in T.S. Eliot’s famous phrase, became ever more important. In this reading group we will focus on one of Freud’s earliest and most intriguing accounts of ‘psychoanalytic remembering’, ‘Screen Memories’, published in 1899, the same year as the Interpretation of Dreams. We will then turn to Freud’s hugely influential short late text, ‘Notes Upon a Mystic Writing Pad’.
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Group Facilitator:
Tom DeRose is Research Manager at the Freud Museum London. His research focusses on the cultural and philosophical aspects of Freudian theory. His most recent publications are ‘The Battle for the Voice: Psychoanalysis and Music’, in ed. Tambling, The Bloomsbury Handbook to Literature and Psychoanalysis (Bloomsbury, 2023) and ‘Freud’s Changing Views on Sadomasochism’ in, ed. Akhtar and Crilley, The Joy of Torment (Karnac, 2024).
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Schedule:
The group will meet from 28 January – 25 February 2025. Weekly meetings will take place online on Tuesdays, 17.30 – 19.00 BST. All attendees will be emailed the recording of each session afterwards to catch up. The group’s capacity is limited to 10 people only.
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Tickets: £80
Freud Museum Members and Patrons receive 20% off the standard ticket price on all events, courses, conferences and On Demand programming.
The purpose of this event is to raise funds for the Freud Museum London, which receives no regular public income.
