The Interpretation of Dreams

1900

THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS

by Sigmund Freud

translated by A. A. Brill





{INTERPRETATION_OF_DREAMS
THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS
Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.

{PREFACE_THIRD_EDITION
PREFACE TO THE THIRD GERMAN EDITION
-
WHEREAS there was a space of nine years between the first and second
editions of this book, the need of a third edition was apparent when
little more than a year had elapsed. I ought to be gratified by this
change; but if I was unwilling previously to attribute the neglect
of my work to its small value, I cannot take the interest which is now
making its appearance as proof of its quality.
The advance of scientific knowledge has not left The
Interpretation of Dreams untouched. When I wrote this book in 1899
there was as yet no "sexual theory," and the analysis of the more
complicated forms of the psychoneuroses was still in its infancy.
The interpretation of dreams was intended as an expedient to
facilitate the psychological analysis of the neuroses; but since
then a profounder understanding of the neuroses has contributed
towards the comprehension of the dream. The doctrine of
dream-interpretation itself has evolved in a direction which was
insufficiently emphasized in the first edition of this book. From my
own experience, and the works of Stekel and other writers, * I have
since learned to appreciate more accurately the significance of
symbolism in dreams (or rather, in unconscious thought). In the course
of years, a mass of data has accumulated which demands
consideration. I have endeavored to deal with these innovations by
interpolations in the text and footnotes. If these additions do not
always quite adjust themselves to the framework of the treatise, or if
the earlier text does not everywhere come up to the standard of our
present knowledge, I must beg indulgence for this deficiency, since it
is only the result and indication of the increasingly rapid advance of
our science. I will even venture to predict the directions in which
further editions of this book- should there be a demand for them-
may diverge from previous editions. Dream-interpretation must seek a
closer union with the rich material of poetry, myth, and popular
idiom, and it must deal more faithfully than has hitherto been
possible with the relations of dreams to the neuroses and to mental
derangement.
Herr Otto Rank has afforded me valuable assistance in the
selection of supplementary examples, and has revised the proofs of
this edition. I have to thank him and many other colleagues for
their contributions and corrections.
Vienna, 1911
-
{PREFACE_THIRD_EDITION ^paragraph 5}
* Omitted in subsequent editions.

{PREFACE_SECOND_EDITION
PREFACE TO THE SECOND (GERMAN) EDITION
-
THAT there should have been a demand for a second edition of this
book- a book which cannot be described as easy to read- before the
completion of its first decade is not to be explained by the
interest of the professional circles to which