Examines the role of psychoanalysis within Latin literary studies, focusing on what psychoanalytic theory has to contribute to interpretation. The argument is organized around three key topics - mourning, motherhood, and the origins of sexual difference - and takes the poetry of Catullus, Virgil, and Ovid as its point of reference.

Freud saw each of his visits to Rome as a means of experimenting, in his private life with his several selves and his personal relationships, his sexual proclivities, his private obsessions and his literary interests to such a point, that he eventually came to see himself as a Roman and Rome as Freudian! One consequence of this, is that anecdotes of his visits to Rome have, in a sense, adhered to the eternal city itself, requiring a personal visit following what trails might remain of Freud’s adventures there. To go there is to move closer to Henri Bergson’s theme of the union of body and soul, that within matter that pure perception places us, and it is really into spirit that we penetrate by means of memory, which for Bergson is the interpenetration of past and present. Or should I say, an intuitive kind of feeling I get when I actually put myself in the same situation, in the same place. Interpreted by Ken Evans, a London based Sociologist-Philosopher

In the eyes of posterity, ancient Rome is deeply flawed. The list of censures is long and varied, from political corruption and the practice of slavery, to religious intolerance and sexual immorality, yet for centuries the Romans' "errors" have not only provoked opprobrium, but also inspired wayward and novel forms of thought and representation, themselves errant in the broad sense of the Latin verb. This volume is the first to examine this phenomenon in depth, treating examples from history, philosophy, literature, psychoanalysis, and art history, from antiquity to the present, to examine how the Romans' faults have become the basis for creative experimentation, for rejections of prevailing ideology, even for comedy and delight. In demonstrating that the reception of Rome's missteps and mistakes has been far more complex than simply denouncing them as an exemplum malum to be shunned and avoided, it argues compellingly that these "alternative" receptions are historically important and enduringly relevant in their own right. "Roman error" comes to signify both ancient misstep and something that we may commit when engaging with Roman antiquity, whereby reception may even be conceived as "error" of a kind: while the volume ably addresses popular fascination with a wide range of Roman vices, including violence, imperial domination, and decadence, it also asks us to consider what makes certain receptions matter, how they matter, and why.

As one of the first theorists to explore the unconscious fantasies, fears, and desires underlying religious ideas and practices, Freud con be considered one of the grandparents of the field of Religious Studies. Yet his legacy is deeply contested. How can Freud be taught in a climate of critique and controversy? The fourteen contributors to this volume, all recognized scholars of religion and psychoanalysis, describe how they address Freud's contested legacy; they "teach the debates." They go on to describe their courses on Freud and religion, their innovative pedagogical practices, and the creative ways they work with resistance.

The science of mind has been plagued by intractable philosophical puzzles, chief among them the distortions of memory and the relation between mind and body. Sigmund Freud's clinical practice forced him to grapple with these problems, and out of that struggle psychoanalysis emerged. From Freud's Consulting Room charts the development of his ideas through his clinical work, the successes and failures of his most dramatic and significant case histories, and the creation of a discipline recognizably distinct from its neighbors. In Freud's encounters with hysterical patients, the mind-body problem could not be set aside. Through the cases of Anna O., Emmy von N., Elisabeth von R., Dora, and Little Hans, he rethought that problem, as Hughes demonstrates, in terms of psychosexuality. When he tried to sort out the value of memories, with Dora and Little Hans as well as with the Rat Man and the Wolf Man, Freud reintroduced psychosexuality and elaborated the Oedipus complex. Hughes also traces the evolution of Freud's conception of the analytic situation and of the centrality of transference, again through the clinical material, including the case of Freud himself, who at one point figured as his own "chief patient". Moving from case to case, Hughes has coaxed them into telling a coherent story. Her book has the texture of intellectual history and the compelling quality of a fascinating tale. It leads us to see the origins and development of psychoanalysis in a new way.

"Held together by a specific vision of memory, these essays put together sources that normally do not come into contact. I like this book a lot."--David B. Morris, author of "The Culture of Pain" "Thought-provoking and even moving. . . . Superior in terms of its poetic acuteness and its range."--Jonathan Boyarin, author of "Polish Jews in Paris: The Ethnography of Memory"

Does Freud still have something to teach us? The premise of this volume is that he most certainly does. Approaching Freud from not only the philosophical but also historical, psychoanalytical, anthropological, and sociological perspectives, the contributors show us how Freud gave us a new and powerful way to think about human thought and action. They consider the context of Freud's thought and the structure of his arguments to reveal how he made sense of ranges of experience generally neglected or misunderstood. All the central topics of Freud's work, from sexuality and neurosis to morality, art, and culture are covered.

Rather the processes of interpretation begun by Freud are turned on Freud himself, thus eventually displacing and questioning his theoretical mastery."

A biography and study of the psychoanalyst's career, family, personal life, and professional struggles.

Freud can be considered one of the grandparents of the field of religious studies, yet students often assume that Freud is sexist, dangerous, passe, and irrelevent to the study of religion. The contributors to this volume describe how they address Freud's contested legacy.