On Dreams

Concise, accessible version of the master’s theory of dreams as disguised wish fulfillment. Contrasts scientific, popular views; considers origins, mental mechanisms.

Among the first of Sigmund Freud’s many contributions to psychology and psychoanalysis was The Interpretation of Dreams, published in 1900, and considered his greatest work even by Freud himself. Aware, however, that it was a long and difficult book, he resolved to compile a more concise and accessible version of his ideas on the interpretation of dreams. That shorter work is reprinted here. Since its publication, generations of readers and students have turned to this volume for an authoritative and coherent account of Freud’s theory of dreams as distorted wish fulfillment.

After contrasting the scientific and popular views of dreams, Freud illustrates the ways in which dreams can be shown to have been influenced by the activities or thoughts of the p