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The Interpretation of Dreams is one of the foundational works of psychoanalysis. Written by Sigmund Freud in 1899, The Interpretation of Dreams sets out Freud’s theory that dream interpretation could shed light on the workings of the unconscious. Although many of Freud’s theories have since been abandoned, The Interpretation of Dreams was hugely influential for decades after its publication, and it helped to popularize the very idea of psychoanalysis.
By analyzing questions, you can see patterns emerge, patterns that will help you answer questions. Qwiz5 is all about those patterns. In each installment of Qwiz5, we take an answer line and look at its five most common clues. Here we explore five clues that will help you answer a tossup on The Interpretation of Dreams.
IRMA’S INJECTION
Freud was inspired to write The Interpretation of Dreams by a dream of his own. Freud called this dream “Irma’s Injection” and meticulously analyzed it. In the dream, Freud was receiving guests at his summer residence in Schloss Bellevue. One guest was a former patient of his, Irma, who had declined his recommended course of treatment. In the dream, Freud inspected Irma, noting a white patch in her mouth and lesions on her skin. One of Freud’s colleagues, a “Dr. M”, appears in the dream as well and claims that Irma’s condition arose from being given an injection from an unclean syringe. Freud interpreted this dream as stemming from his guilt over Irma’s lack of progress and his frustration over her not taking his recommended course of treatment.
WOLF MAN
The Interpretation of Dreams closely examines the dreams of several of Freud’s patients. One of the best-known of these dreams belongs to Sergei Pankejeff (dubbed The Wolf Man by Freud to preserve anonymity). Shortly before his fourth birthday, Pankejeff dreamt that while in bed his window opened, and he saw six or seven snow-white wolves sitting in a Walnut Tree outside his room. Freud interpreted this dream as arising from anxiety felt by Pankejeff upon witnessing a primal scene -- in this case, a sex act between his parents -- before he was old enough to properly understand sexuality.
MANIFEST AND LATENT CONTENT
Freud believed that dreams contained two kinds of content: manifest content and latent content. A dream’s manifest content refers to the actual events that occur in the dream. Latent content, on the other hand, refers to the actual meaning the dream’s events represent. As Freud believed that dreams were a form of wish fulfillment, examining the dream’s latent content could shed light on the patient’s desires based on which wish was being fulfilled.
CONDENSATION
Dreams follow their own strange logic to move from latent content to manifest content, a logic which Freud dubbed “dream-work.” One principle of dream-work is condensation. In condensation, multiple elements of the dream are combined to represent a single idea.
DISPLACEMENT
Freud identified displacement as another principle of dream-work. In displacement, strong emotions from one idea or experience are detached from the object that triggers or creates them and instead attached to something else. This can make the interpretation of dreams confusing, because seemingly insignificant manifest content may in fact be connected to or carrying key latent content.
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Quizbowl is about learning, not rote memorization, so we encourage you to use this as a springboard for further reading rather than as an endpoint. Here are a few things to check out:
Read this article to learn more about the Wolf Man and who he was.
Freud applied his principles of dream analysis to fictional characters as well as real ones. One example was a lengthy study of the short story Gradiva. A Pompeiian Fantasy.
Jung and Freud agreed on many things, but each had different theories of dream analysis.
Watch this video for a more in-depth analysis of Freud’s dream theory.
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