The Jewish World of Sigmund Freud: Essays on Cultural Roots and the Problem of Religious Identity »

Though Freud is one of the towering intellectual figures of the twentieth century, too little attention has been paid to the influence of his Jewish identity upon his life and work, particularly the impact of growing up a Jew in turn-of-the-century Vienna. The 14 essays in this volume explore the ways in which Freud and his followers were embedded in the cultural matrix of Jewish Central and Eastern Europe.

Topics include general, sociological, historical, and cultural issues and then turn to the personal: Freud's education, his Jewish identity, and his thoughts about Judaism. Though a secular and ambivalent Jew, Freud's emphasis on intellectualism and morality reveal the deep and abiding influence of European Jewish tradition upon his work.

Introduction 1

Hidden in Plain Sight: Freud's Jewish Identity Revisited Jill Salberg 5

Assimilation and Affirmation: The Jews of Freud's Vienna Marsha L. Rozenblit 22

Being Mr. Somebody: Freud and Classical Education Richard H. Armstrong 35

The Neue Freie Presse Neurosis: Freud, Karl Kraus, and the Newspaper as Daily Devotional Leo A. Lensing 51

Sigmund Freud and Electrotherapy Sander L. Gilman 66

Anti-Semitism in the Freud Case Histories Harold P. Blum 78

Freud's Theory of Jewishness: For Better and for Worse Eliza Slavet 96

Freud and Levinas: Talmud and Psychoanalysis Before the Letter Ethan Kleinberg 112

Freud's Moses and Viennese Jewish Modernism Abigail Gillman 126

Freud's Michelangelo: The Sculptural Meditations of a Hellenized Jew Mary Bergstein 136

Freud, Moses, and Akhenaten Florence Dunn Friedman 144

Sigmund Freud in Exile: The End of an Illusion Frank Mecklenburg 160

"Leaving This World with Decency": Psychoanalytical Considerations on Suicide in the Life and Work of Sigmund Freud Benigna Gerisch 165

Freud's Jewish World: A Historical Perspective Steven Beller 175

About the Contributors 187

Index 191