A review by ayla_derammelaere
Traumagevallen: Katharina, Dora, de Wolvenman en de man Mozes by Wilfred Oranje

informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0



This book contains 3 case studies of individuals (Katharina, Dora and the wolfman) and an intruiging analysis of Mozes.

The 3 case studies give us an insight in how the psycoanalytic process works : Freud gives us a little bit of information about the patient he is treating (he stays aware of the fact that he doesn't want other people being able to recognize his patients), then he tells us about their symptoms and their dreams and explains to us what priciniples he uses to explain them. A lot of times he only gives us a short summary of his theory, assuming the reader of the case study is familiar with his theory.
The 3 case studies don't contain a complete analysis since he didn't do that with all of them and he uses these studies as an example to explain more of his theory so there was no need, once the principle was explained, to continue writing down the rest of the analysis.

I found the case studies intruiging to read, sometimes being in awe of how he managed to recognise things, sometimes wondering if there wasn't another way of explaining.
The work that really amazed me, was his analysis of Mozes.

Freud, being a Jew himself, starts with the premisis that Mozes must have been an Egyptian and not a Hebrew. He allows us to follow his train of thoughts using the analogy of origin stories of other religions and 'hero' characters. Besides that, he uses history to explain that 'Mozes' is an Egyptian name, the act of circumcision is an Egyptian tradition and if Mozes really was a Hebrew, then why would he want to keep using an Egyptian name and tradition if all they wanted to do was escape Egypt ?
He refers to the existance of Ichnaton (the first pharao who believed in only 1 god, so a little knowledge of ancient Egypt is requirred) and then draws lines and interprets the stories in that light. He also refers a lot to his previous book (totem and taboo) and combined all of it to explain that God wasn't always Jahweh, that there has been a rejecting of the monotheisme after the accepting of God by the Hebrews, that Mozes was killed by his people and that finnaly, when another Mozes (same name but another man, they never met) came in contact with the descendants of the 'original' Mozes, compromises were made and Jahweh was 'born' as the one and only God.
At the end of this explanation, Freud also combines his idea of memories shared by a whole people in stead of memories of one person (collective memories). For him this must be a condition for a religion to grow and remain.

I really loved reading the book, especially the part about Mozes. It inspires me to look more into this idea and see if there is more about this subject I can find.