Changes

In the context of [[psychoanalysis]], the [[idea ]] of [[symbolism ]] in [[dreams ]] should be [[understood ]] in [[three ]] ways: (1) as pertaining to relatively constant and [[universal ]] correspondences between the [[symbol ]] and what it symbolizes within a given [[culture ]] (and in the view of some, no [[doubt]], within all cultures); (2) as pertaining to symbol/symbolized correspondences specific to a given dreamer and a given [[dream]]; and (3) as pertaining to the [[processes ]] of [[symbolization ]] that give rise to the aforementioned correspondences.

In Chapter 6 of his [[Interpretation ]] of Dreams (1900a), [[Freud ]] devoted a section to "[[Representation ]] by [[Symbols ]] in Dreams." Anyone who read only this section, however, would have a completely mistaken view of the [[Freudian ]] approach to the [[interpretation of dreams]]. For what Freud dealt with here, in [[essence]], were correspondences of the first kind defined above, that is to say representations (to be met with especially in "typical dreams") whose [[meanings ]] seemed so invariable from one dreamer to the next that they could be taken as read, even without reference to the [[subject]]'s [[associations]]. For example, any long or pointed [[object]], any weapon (but also a hat) stood for the [[penis]], and hollow [[objects ]] for the vagina or, more generally, a [[woman]]'s [[body]]; similarly, going up a staircase or flying represented [[sexual ]] excitement, erection or coitus, coming out of a tunnel meant [[birth]], a tooth [[being ]] pulled related to [[masturbation]], and so on. Nor were these [[equivalences ]] exclusive to dreams, for they occurred widely too in stories, [[myths]], and folklore, a fact tending to confirm their universal validity. [[Verbal ]] connections were very common in this context. In the [[case ]] of masturbation, for [[instance]], vulgar locutions in [[German ]] embodied a similar symbolism: "Sich einen ausreissen," literally "to pull oneself out," meant to masturbate (pp. 348n, 388), and so on.

The sheer profusion of examples given by Freud in this section might [[suggest ]] to an incautious reader that The [[Interpretation of Dreams ]] is [[nothing ]] but [[another ]] "dream-book"; in [[reality]], of course, the entire [[work ]] is a protest against the "decoding" approach to [[dream interpretation]]. Indeed Freud repeatedly stresses that, even if an initial interpretation may be based on a sort of a-priori table of correspondences, a symbol is always modulated by the [[mental ]] [[activity ]] of the [[particular ]] dreamer. For symbols "frequently have more than one or even several meanings, and, as with Chinese script, the correct interpretation can only be arrived at on each occasion from the context." (p. 353). Beyond the very first or "[[symbolic]]" [[reading]], therefore, it was essential, in Freud's view, to draw out the dreamer's associations.

The [[dream work ]] is the task of inserting into each dream the [[wish ]] which lies at its origin, without offending the [[conscious ]] [[mind]]. Representations in dreams are constructed in the two phases of this transformation: the primary-[[process ]] [[phase ]] ([[condensation]], [[displacement]], considerations of representability) and the phase of the secondary revision which completes the transformation by giving consistency and an acceptable [[meaning ]] to the [[manifest ]] [[text ]] of the dream. The meaning of a given representation can therefore as a general rule be established solely by [[working ]] in reverse, by de-condensation, so to [[speak]], by re-placing what has been [[displaced]], and so on, on the basis of the associations of the dreamer and the [[intervention ]] of the [[analyst]].

Processes of symbolization organize the [[dream-work]]. Consequently, the [[whole ]] of [[The Interpretation of Dreams]], indeed all Freud's writings [[On Dreams|on dreams]], may be considered to have [[them ]] as their subject; beyond that, these processes constitute the very core of Freud's [[metapsychology ]] (Gibeault, 1989).

Works [[On Dreams|on dreams ]] since Freud have been extremely numerous, dealing notably with the issue of the articulation between "general symbols" and "[[individual ]] symbols." Ernest [[Jones ]] (1916/1920) was one of the first to take up this [[discussion]].

See also: Dream; Interpretation of Dreams, The; Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis; Symbol; Symbolism; [[Translation]].[[Bibliography]]