Author: Bruno Bettelheim
Title: Freud and Man’s Soul
Published: 1982
8 years before his death, Bruno Bettelheim published the book Freud and Man’s Soul. This was 1982, and at this point in his life, Bettelheim had spent many years in the science of psychoanalysis and studying the works of Freud in his native German and in English translations. The purpose of Bettelheim’s work, Freud and Man’s Soul specifically, is to make readers know that the translations of Freud’s work that modern American psychoanalysis is based on has been translated in a way that detracts from Freud’s humanistic and soulful purpose.
What Bettelheim points out is that the American translations of Freud’s work completely alters Freud’s purpose to suit the purpose of the institution of American science, while crediting Freud for the definition of psychoanalysis. To add to this conundrum, many of the translations were approved by Freud, and Bettelheim has been accused of falsifying his degrees and achievements. What to believe? Is the foundation of American psychoanalysis written by a self-serving system more interested in controlling the method of thought of its people by defining the words of a great thinker only on its own terms, or was Freud actually translated frankly in a method that will carry on his meanings? Is the truth lost in translation?
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