Sigmund Freud and his Patient Margarethe Csonka: A Case of Homosexuality in a Woman in Modern Vienna

This book provides a historical analysis of Sigmund Freud's least-studied case, "The Psychogenesis of a Case of Homosexuality in a Woman," published in 1920. It challenges the neglect of Freud's views on homosexual women and explores his attitudes towards lesbianism in the early twentieth century. It also examines the broader context of medical and psychological texts, Freud's own writings, Jewish and queer history, and modern Vienna's urban and art history. The book will interest psychoanalysts, scholars of gender and sexuality, feminists, and readers in the history of psychoanalysis, science and medicine, and ideas.

Format: Hardback
Length: 130 pages
Publication date: 27 November 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive book delves into a historical analysis of one of Sigmund Freud's lesser-studied cases, originally published in 1920 as "The Psychogenesis of a Case of Homosexuality in a Woman." While scholars of sexuality often focus on Freud's writings on male homosexuality, disregarding his views on homosexual women, this book serves as a corrective, renewing, and reinvigorating interest in Freud's work. It demonstrates that his insights into sexuality are as relevant today as ever.

Part I introduces the case and explores Freud's attitudes towards lesbianism, which were radical among his medical colleagues in the early twentieth century. It also places Margarethe Csonka, the patient, at the center of the narrative. Michal Shapira examines Freud's sole treatment of a female homosexual and assesses Csonka's background life before and after the encounter.

Part II expands the case beyond the scientific-medical purview of the times and examines the new opportunities afforded to women and assimilated Jews through growing equality and the modernization of urban life in 1920s Vienna. This book contextualizes Csonka's case within the broader framework of medical and psychological texts, Freud's own writings, Jewish and queer history, and modern Vienna's urban and art history.

Sigmund Freud and His Patient Margarethe Csonka will be of immense interest to psychoanalysts in practice and training, as well as to readers with a passion for the history of gender and sexuality, feminism, modern European and urban history, the history of psychoanalysis, science and medicine, and the history of ideas.

Weight: 430g
Dimension: 216 x 138 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032403496