The Interpretation of Dreams Review

The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud 

                                               …They tell not of the future, but self-restrained wishes

Eloquence in verbosity : This paradox best describes Freud’s way of writing. At the first glance it might appear to the reader that much of the book is filled with useless examples and futile paraphrasing. But rest assured that the meaning a reader ascribes to the last few pages entirely depends on it, and hence what might seem to be a mindless toil at first would be an earned enlightenment in retrospective.

The book is partially discernible at best because it was a novel piece of work at the time of its conception and hence even the author has referred to some part of his work as a dark portion. It is extreme in what it does. The writing style is almost pompous and disparaging at some points when the author’s contempt for the work of his contemporaries becomes more evident than the exposition of his discourse itself. The difficulty in comprehension that a reader might face is not to be associated with author’s use of words. The original language of this work was German ;hence because of the difference in structures of the two languages the translation might not have been as effective as the original text.

The theory of unconscious and the analogies conjured by Freud to explain the Psychic apparatus is brilliant.However, the whole book is induction based and not deduction based like most of the scientific journals. This can put reader in an uncomfortable position. For most of the readers, conclusion will partially address this discomfort .

This book is only recommended for those who have special interest in the philosophy of mind.