Freud Foundation U.S. and the New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis present

Mark Solms: The Revised Standard Edition of Sigmund Freud’s Writings – an Updated Translation

Can the existing English translation by James Strachey of Freud’s Psychological Works be salvaged and updated, or is a completely fresh start called for? This is the question that confronted Mark Solms, the editor of the Revised Standard Edition, when he began his massive task thirty years ago. In this presentation, he will provide the answer that he came to, and explain why. This will entail an interesting consideration of the widespread accusation that Strachey ‘falsely scientized’ Freud. The talk will also entail a birds-eye overview of the many ways in which the Revised Standard Edition differs from the old one.

Professor Mark Solms is a member of the British Psychoanalytical Society and the American and South African Psychoanalytic Associations. He is Director of Neuropsychology at the Neuroscience Institute of the University of Cape Town. He is an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists. He has received numerous honours and awards, including the Sigourney Prize.  He has published 350 scientific papers, and eight books, the latest being The Hidden Spring (Norton, 2021). He is the authorized editor and translator of the Revised Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (24 volumes) and the forthcoming Complete Neuroscientific Works of Sigmund Freud (4 volumes).