Freud published two sets of introductory lectures, the first in 1917 and the second in 1933. Although separated by 16 years they are numbered consecutively, suggesting that Freud himself regarded them as belonging together. Here for the first time the introductory lectures of both periods are gathered into a single volume.
To those who own the 24-volume Standard Edition, this represents an exact duplication of volumes 15, 16, and 23. For those who do not, this is an opportunity to add a historical and still extremely useful set of writings to their library. Freud's style is felicitous in the extreme. Strachey's translation is impeccable. In the earlier lectures he focused on parapraxes and dreams, and outlined a general theory of the neuroses based primarily on the topographical model of the mental apparatus. In the later lectures he revised and supplemented his earlier views, introducing