Who was Martha Bernays, the Hamburg-born woman who, after a long and turbulent engagement and against the opposition of her mother, married the Viennese doctor Sigmund Freud and lived at his side for more than fifty years as wife and mother of six? How did she feel, coming from a traditional Jewish family but living in a household with no religious background? How did she cope with the challenge of being married to the man whose work revolutionized our ways of thinking about human sexuality?
In this, the first biography of Martha Freud, Katja Behling portrays this remarkable woman, whose loyalty and steadfastness contributed in no small measure to the extraordinary success of psychoanalysis as it went from strength to strength and spread from Vienna to the four corners of the earth.
By:
Katja Behling
Translated by:
R. D. V. Glasgow
Imprint: Polity Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 137mm,
Spine: 18mm
Weight: 295g
ISBN: 9781509560653
ISBN 10: 1509560653
Series: Key Concepts
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 01 September 2023
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Foreword by Anton W. Freud Preface HAMBURG A Hamburg Childhood The Move to Vienna Isaac Bernays, Martha’s Grandfather Berman Bernays, Martha’s Father Emmeline Bernays, Martha’s Mother The Lovely Martha Cupid’s Arrow Wandsbek The Cocaine Episode: an Opportunity Missed Paris Eli Bernays, Martha’s Brother Till Death Us Do Part VIENNA Berggasse 19 Minna Bernays, Martha’s Sister Sigmund and Martha Freud Travel Berlin Friends Martha as a Mother The Freud Family Martha’s Children Later Years: She was ‘Normal' Illnesses LONDON Emigration Refuge in Hampstead The Death of Her Husband The Second World War The Final Years Martha’s Death Martha and Her Influence on Psychoanalysis Martha Freud, an Epilogue APPENDIX Chronological Table Bibliography Notes Illustrations Acknowledgements
Katja Behling was born in 1963. She studied for a PhD in Medicine and trained as a psychotherapist whilst also working as a medical journalist. She currently live in Hamburg and is the author of Zu Tisch bei Sigmund Freud (Vienna, 2000).
Reviews for Martha Freud: A Biography
"""A remarkable story."" —Prospect ""Behling evokes a Martha who is a far more substantial woman that the 'adored sweetheart in youth' and 'beloved wife in maturity' Freud apostrophized. This book stands alone or as worthy companion to any biography of Freud."" —Lisa Appignanesi ""Finally a long overdue biography of Martha Freud gives us an authentic picture of the family life of her husband, Sigmund Freud. Speculations about Freud's personal life which range from the trivial to the salacious will need to shop short on the frontier of this excellent portrait of a highly ethical and decent human being and the hard work and the love it takes to establish and transmit these qualities. Martha Freud constructed a network of child- and husband-care and social concern whose inspiration and independence prohibits dismissive attitudes towards the traditional stereotype of the good hausfrau under which she has laboured. Behling's book gives us a picture of a particular woman which makes us rethink our general categories."" —Juliet Mitchell, University of Cambridge"
