A Compulsion for Antiquity. Freud and the Ancient World

Abstract

The author takes the reader of his monograph on a dual journey. The world of Rome, Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt is seen and interpreted through Freud's writings. At the same time, Armstrong analyses Freud's romance with classical cultures by drawing on the methods of mnemohistory. The book's starting-point is Freud's enchantment with archaeology and classical studies. This was manifest in his enormous collection of antiquities, his taste in prints, illustrations and reproductions, as well as in his readings, his theatre trips and his travels to classical sites. Most important are Freud's references to the ancient world in the formation of his concepts and his praxis. Armstrong presents evidence for Freud's romance with antiquity by pointing to his interpretation of Wilhelm Jensen's novella Gradiva, his invocation of Empedocles, his reading of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus, the references to Egypt in his study of Leonardo da Vinci, and the allusions to Greek mythology in The Interpretation of Dreams.