On Freud’s “Moses and Monotheism”

Description

On Freud’s "Moses and Monotheism" discusses key themes in Sigmund Freud’s final book, Moses and Monotheism, written between 1934 and 1939. The contributors reflect on the historical context of the time during which the book was written, including Freud’s mindset and his struggle to leave Austria to escape the Nazi regime, and investigate its contemporary implications and relevance. Drawing parallels with contemporary society, the chapters cover topics like historical truth, the effects of Nazism on Freud’s writing, Freud’s "relationship" with Moses, the transmission of trauma across generations, the origins and psychodynamics of anti-Semitism, Freud and Moses as leaders, and the notion of Tradition. This book also reflects on the stories of Moses and of Freud – the search of a people for a "Promised Land," the deep scars of slavery, and the struggle of a man to establish an ideology and ensure its continuity. On Freud’s "Moses and Monotheism" will be of great interest to all psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists. It will also be of interest to scholars investigating the nature of truth, and social scientists interested in the broader applications of Freud’s discussions of the nature of civilization. Cover Endorsement Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Contributors Series Editor’s Foreword Foreword Editor’s Introduction to On Freud’s “Moses and Monotheism” Why Did Freud Write Moses and Monotheism? Freud’s Identification With Moses Freud and the Statue of Moses Three Heretics: Moses, Freud, and Akhenaten Notes References Editor’s Introduction to Chapter 1 Notes 1 “The Jewish Offensive”: The Reception of Freud’s Moses and Monotheism in Mandatory Jewish Palestine Impossible Confession The Jewish Offensive Concluding Remarks Notes References Editor’s Introduction to Chapter 2 Note 2 Freud’s “Phylogenetic Fantasy” and His Construction of the Historical Moses References Editor’s Introduction to Chapter 3 3 The Probable in Nazi Times: The Opposing Fates of the Mystical and the Law Political Desolation Science Or Probable? Delirium and Truth Hatred and Interdiction The “Law” (Droit) in Quotation Marks Moses Created the Jews Notes Editor’s Introduction to Chapter 4 4 “Moses – Freud’s Literary Twin” Introduction – Why Moses? Moses and Monotheism– a Story of Doubles Freud and His Literary Twins in Moses and Monotheism – a Psychoanalytic Perspective The Art of Mourning The Breaking of the Stone Tablets – the Fate of a Leader Mount Nebo and Psychoanalytic Nebo Concluding Words Notes References Editor’s Introduction to Chapter 5 5 Memory and Historical Truth in Moses and Monotheism: The Contemporary Significance of “Historical Truth” Preamble Introduction The ‘Yawning Gap’ in History: Latency and Its Relation to Memory Monotheism and Its Constructions: The Archaeological Model Some Limitations of the Archaeological Model A Clinical Example The First Time The Second Time The Contemporary Transferential Context Further Reservation of the Archaeological Model: Bion Historization of Trauma The Restorative Effects of Memory in Literature and in Moses and Monotheism Historical Truth in the Intersubjective Field Conclusion References Editor’s Introduction to Chapter 6 6 The Mule and the Dancer: Freud, Moses, and the Dilemma of the Hybrid Out of the Half-Gloom of the Interior The Blemish of Error A Complicated Fellow The Other Author, the Novelist Notes References Editor’s Introduction to Chapter 7 Note 7 The Puzzle of Freud’s Puzzle Analogy: Reviving a Struggle With Doubt and Conviction in Freud’s Moses and Monotheism The Puzzle The Centrality of Doubt and Conviction in Moses Freud’s Theories of Doubt and Conviction Freud’s New View of Religion Freud’s Struggle With a New Area of Reality The Solution of the Puzzle Implications for Understanding the Nature of the Text of Moses and Monotheism Notes References Editor’s Introduction to Chapter 8 8 Der Mann Moses and the Man Freud: Leadership, Legacy, and Anti-Semitism Freud the Leader Freud On Leadership The Roots of Anti-Semitism Notes References Editor’s Introduction to Chapter 9 References 9 Freud: On Tradition Freud’s Notion of Tradition and the Return of the Repressed Latency Period and Tradition The Archaic Heritage Tradition and Memory The Archaic Heritage and Its Evidence Memory-Traces: Conservation and Transmission Conclusion Notes References Conclusion and Final Thoughts A Tale of Two Cities: Vienna and Akhetaten (Amarna) Vienna: Coming of the Second World War Amarna: The Birth of Monotheism Notes References Index