Freud in Bloomsbury

The affinity between Freud and Bloomsbury was obvious from 1910 and became productive when core members of the Bloomsbury group becoming psychoanalysts in the 1920s and the Hogarth Press became the official psychoanalytic publishing house. The lecture will explore the reasons for this affinity and also ask if the history of psychoanalysis in Britain has been radically different from other countries because of its original alliance with an entrenched anti-establishment elite from the English rentier class, both extremely well-connected and bohemian.

John Forrester is Professor of History and Philosophy of the Sciences in the University of Cambridge, author of 'Language and the Origins of Psychoanalysis' (1980), 'The Seductions of Psychoanalysis' (1990), (with Lisa Appignanesi) 'Freud’s Women' (1992), 'Dispatches from the Freud Wars' (1997) and 'Truth Games' (1997). He is completing (with Laura Cameron) 'Freud in Cambridge', a study of the reception of psychoanalysis in the 1920s. He is interested in reasoning in cases in science, medicine and law. He is Editor of Psychoanalysis and History.

Part of a season of talks and events accompanying the forthcoming exhibition 'Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors', 10 October 2013 - 2 February 2014.