The question of objectivity in Freud’s biographic studies

The problem of objectivity in the writing of a biography has always haunted biographers. In the case of Freud’s biographic studies, this question is even more complex, since his first biographers were also psychoanalysts who tried to combine the biographic method with psychoanalysis. We initially di...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Silva, Marcus Vinicius Neto, Rocha, Guilherme Massara
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2019
Country:Brasil
Institution:Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG)
Repository:Memorandum (Belo Horizonte)
Language:Portuguese
OAI Identifier:oai:periodicos.ufmg.br:article/6610
Online Access:https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/memorandum/article/view/6610
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Biografia
Sigmund Freud
metodologia
biography
methodology
Description
Summary:The problem of objectivity in the writing of a biography has always haunted biographers. In the case of Freud’s biographic studies, this question is even more complex, since his first biographers were also psychoanalysts who tried to combine the biographic method with psychoanalysis. We initially discuss the relation of the biographer with his subject and the degree of objectivity that is possible to obtain when one narrates the life of another. The matter of transference and the distortions it introduces in the text is also approached. Next, we follow Freud’s biographers, going through texts since 1923 to comprehend how they work with the challenges of the biographer-biographed relation.