Recollecting Freud

This eyewitness account by one of Sigmund Freud's earliest students has been rediscovered for twenty-first-century readers. Isidor Sadger's recollections provide a unique window into the early days of the psychoanalytic movement and also illuminate Freud's own struggles: his delight in wit, his attitudes toward Judaism, and his strong opinions concerning lay, non-medical psychoanalysts

This eyewitness account by one of Sigmund Freud''s earliest students has been rediscovered for twenty-first-century readers. Isidor Sadger''s recollections provide a unique window into the early days of the psychoanalytic movement and also illuminate Freud''s own struggles: his delight in wit, his attitudes toward Judaism, and his strong opinions concerning lay, nonmedical psychoanalysts.

As a student, Sadger attended Freud''s lectures from 1895 through 1904. Although Sadger was not part of Freud''s inner circle, he was a participant observer of Freud''s early years as teacher, therapist, and clinician. In 1930, Sadger published the biography Sigmund Freud: Persönliche Erinnerungen, but with the rise of Nazism and World War II, the book was almost lost to the world of psychoanalytic history. Recollecting Freud is a long-lost personal account that provides invaluable insights into Freud and his social, cultural, and intellectual context.