Why Sigmund Freud changed our world forever

The Austrian Stefan Zweig (Vienna, 1881 - Petrópolis, 1942) is a writer who has been a source of great interest to publishers. After a period of obscurity, the success he enjoyed during his lifetime was revived at the turn of the century, making him a regular feature. long-seller, in a reference to the "world of yesterday" and in an iconic example of the skill of the late Jaume Vallcorba (Barcelona, ​​1949-2014), founder of the publishing houses Quaderns Crema and Acantiladoto consolidate a stellar catalog with the right mix of rediscovered and new releases. Therefore, it was logical to expect that, from January 2023 onwards, with his work entering the public domain, many stamps would follow Vienna's lead in its collection. Small pleasures with (for the moment) five titles, but also publishing houses such as Ediciones de 1984 and La Segunda Periferia, would incorporate his name.

In this whole interplay of interests and rights, the main beneficiary is the reader, and in this specific case, the Catalan reader. Because Sigmund Freud –one of the three biographies that made up the original Healing through the Spirit (1931, which can be translated as "Healing Through the Spirit")—was until now unpublished in our language and its quality places it, at least, at the level of his classic Fouché (Quema Notebooks). The writer Francesc Serés is even more enthusiastic on social media, describing it directly as "Zweig's best book." There are plenty of reasons to agree.

Following his unmistakable style, Zweig's approach to the father of psychoanalysis places him within a specific historical context and, thanks to prose that is both precise and uninhibited—excellently translated by Marc Jiménez Buzzi—develops a personal interpretation of the significance of the man and his work. However, what interests Zweig most is contrasting the character, will, and consistency of Sigmund Freud (Příbor, 1856 – London, 1939) with contemporary medicine and, above all, with Viennese society of the time. As the Austrian author explains, "ignorance always breeds harshness," manifested in cruel treatments, in the contempt for women (hysteria and melancholia as diagnoses), and in the cruelty of hypocrisy and double standards; but also in the marginalization and ridicule he endured from his colleagues.

Understanding and healing patients

Psychoanalysis threatened the illusion of human singularity. Suddenly, that being who, vainly, had doubly described himself as Homo sapiens sapiens He was no longer the center of the world (Copernicus), nor of creation (Darwin), and, to make matters worse, he was no longer governed by his rationality or his modesty. It's not so much that Freud discovered irrationality and sexuality, but rather their verbalization and, from there, the systematic effort to understand the mechanisms, relevance, and significance of these drives. He wouldn't always succeed, but he would do so systematically and—excessively, according to Zweig—generously.

His relentless method advances the understanding of the psyche to help his patients, disregarding budgets or conventional wisdom. His research aims to understand and thus heal his patients. These advances have undeniable consequences both in the medical and health fields and in the very conception and self-perception of humanity: "Because when one has learned to understand the human being in oneself, one understands him in everyone else." The historical turning point embodied by Freud is perhaps only comparable to the revolution that physics underwent at the same time. In both cases, and thanks to knowledge, our world changed forever.