The Psychopathology of Everyday Life

The most trivial slips of the tongue or pen, Freud believed, can reveal our secret ambitions, worries, and fantasies. The Psychopathology of Everyday Liferanks among his most enjoyable works. Starting with the story of how he once forgot the name of an Italian painter-and how a young acquaintance mangled a quotation from Virgil through fears that his girlfriend might be pregnant-it brings together a treasure trove of muddled memories, inadvertent actions, and verbal tangles. Amusing, moving, and deeply revealing of the repressed, hypocritical Viennese society of his day, Freud's dazzling interpretations provide the perfect introduction to psychoanalytic thinking in action. Translated by Anthea Bell. Introduction by Paul Keegan.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) lived his entire life in Vienna until Hitler's invasion of Austria forced him to seek asylum in London in 1938. The father of psychoanalysis, he exerted a profound influence over the whole intellectual climate of the twentieth century.

Adam Phillips was formerly Principal Child Psychotherapist at Charing Cross Hospital in London. He is the author of several books on psychoanalysis, including On Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored; Darwin's Worms; Promises, Promises; and Houdini's Box.

Paul Keegan is the poetry editor at Faber and Faber.

Anthea Bell translated E. T. A. Hoffman's The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr for Penguin Classics and has received a number of translation awards.