Seeds of Core Psychoanalytical Concepts

Volume?1 of the unabridged edition of the Brautbriefe, the letters exchanged between Sigmund?Freud and Martha?Bernays during their engagement from?1882 to?1886, was published last year in the original German. It is the most extensive and most intimate Freud correspondence, of which only a small selection was previously in the public domain. Ilse?Grubrich-Simitis is co-editor of the edition of this document from the prehistory of psychoanalysis, which will eventually comprise a total of five volumes. The?47th ipa congress, held in Mexico City at the beginning of August?2011, was devoted to the theme ??Exploring Core Concepts: Sexuality, Dreams and The Unconscious??. In the first part of her opening address Ilse?Grubrich-Simitis shows that these early letters, including those written by Martha, already contain seeds of core psychoanalytic concepts as well as of the psychoanalytic method. In the second part of her lecture two portraits emerge into the light: Martha?Bernays takes the stage for the first time, while a fascinatingly novel and complex image of the young Freud is revealed.