An Outline of Psycho-Analysis is the last book which Sigmund Freud wrote before his death. A masterpiece of clarity and conciseness, it has a unique value in relation to the body of Freud’s work; it is both a manual for the layman of the fundamental tenets of psycho-analysis, and a summary of the principles arrived at after a lifetime of research and experiment in the science.
The aim ofthe book, writes Freud in the Foreword, is ‘to bring together the doctrines of psycho-analysis and to state them, as it were, dogmatically—in the most concise form and in the most positive terms’. That aim is brilliantly achieved and the three sections of the book — The Mind and its Workings, The Practical Task and The Theoretical Yield—combine to form an essential text for all those who wish to understand Freud’s life-work and the basic principles of his psycho-analysis.
