Reading Freud: Psychoanalysis as Cultural History

Cultural theory has found a renewed interest in psychoanalysis, bringing many new readers to Freud and his work. This book is an introductory guide to Freud and brings together for the first time: an overview of Freud's work which enables the reader to see quickly where and in which texts Freud develops his main ideas; a guide to reading Freud, and to what can be done with the complexities of his texts; an examination of what recent cultural theory draws from Freud, and of why psychoanalysis is of interest for it; a reading and argument about the Freud revealed by recent cultural theory; and an extensive selection of extracts from Freud's texts, with commentary. Freud is now the definitive guide to the content of Freud's texts: what's there and where to find it.