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Freud’s British Family: Reclaiming Lost Lives in Manchester and London
Revealing the complex relationships Manchester businessmen Emanuel and Philip Freud had with their much younger brother Sigmund, Roger Willoughby discusses key themes documented in his new book Freud’s British Family. Their influence, hitherto largely forgotten, impacted on the mental economy of the founder of psychoanalysis, helping shape Freud’s thinking, attitudes, and theorising, including emerging ideas on rivalry, the Oedipus complex, character, and art.
Through this lens, new aspects of Freud’s own story are interwoven, including his formative visits to his brothers and to Britain in 1875 and again in 1908, before concluding with reflections on Freud’s final 15 months in London after he left Nazi Vienna as a refugee. Along the way, Freud is glimpsed with his family in an illuminating and sometimes arresting fashion, which is at the same time always deeply human.
This book is the best and most detailed thing ever written about the Freud brothers who emigrated to England, their businesses and families, and their important relationship with Sigmund Freud. Roger Willoughby has devoted more than a decade to researching the British branch of the Freud family. And he has uncovered things that Freud biographers have laboured in vain to research for decades. Highly recommended!
Christfried Tögel, editor of the Sigmund Freud Gesamtausgabe, the first complete Freud edition in 23 volumes, and author of Sigmund Freud 1856-1939: A Biographical Compendium
This outstanding study of the ‘English’ Freuds is long overdue. It provides detailed insight from inside Freud’s family about the master’s personal life as well as background to his own dreams. We encounter the great psychoanalyst in the heart of both his Austrian and English families. There is, as added bonus, a rich account of the distinguished visitors and patients seen during his last days in London.
Ross M Skelton, Professor of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis (Emeritus), Trinity College Dublin and Editor-in-Chief of The Edinburgh International Encyclopaedia of Psychoanalysis
SPEAKER
Roger Willoughby is a clinical psychologist, historian, academic, and writer. He is Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and holds doctorates in psychoanalytic studies from the University of Kent and University of Oxford. His previous writings include the critically acclaimed Masud Khan: The Myth and the Reality (Free Association Books, 2005), as well as papers in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, the British Journal of Psychotherapy, and elsewhere.
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The event will be held on the first floor of the Museum during regular opening hours. Unfortunately the Freud Museum does not have step-free access at this time. Advance booking is highly recommended as capacity is limited.
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