On the Edge of the Abyss: The Jewish Unconscious before Freud
University of Chicago Press, 2025
Paper: 978-0-226-83821-2 | Cloth: 978-0-226-83820-5 | eISBN: 978-0-226-83822-9
Library of Congress Classification BF315.B665 2025
See other books on: Abyss | Edge | Jewish philosophy | Kabbalah & Mysticism | Mind & Body
See other titles from University of Chicago Press
Paper: 978-0-226-83821-2 | Cloth: 978-0-226-83820-5 | eISBN: 978-0-226-83822-9
Library of Congress Classification BF315.B665 2025
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
A history of the unconscious in public discourse before Freud and its significance for Jewish emancipation.
When Sigmund Freud published his theory of the unconscious in 1899, he popularized an idea that had fascinated generations of Jewish philosophers before him. In this book, Clémence Boulouque charts the development of the pre-Freudian unconscious from subcultural inquiry to dominant discourse during the long nineteenth century. Although Freud’s scientific notion differed from Schelling’s mythical description of the abyss from which creation springs, its resonance with older ideas was celebrated as an opportunity to express specifically Jewish contributions to modernity. Indeed, Boulouque shows that the pre-Freudian unconscious emerged from conversations in Jewish mysticism about otherness and coexistence. In the hopeful years before World War I, Boulouque argues that such reflections offered the possibility of emancipation not only to Jews but to all.
When Sigmund Freud published his theory of the unconscious in 1899, he popularized an idea that had fascinated generations of Jewish philosophers before him. In this book, Clémence Boulouque charts the development of the pre-Freudian unconscious from subcultural inquiry to dominant discourse during the long nineteenth century. Although Freud’s scientific notion differed from Schelling’s mythical description of the abyss from which creation springs, its resonance with older ideas was celebrated as an opportunity to express specifically Jewish contributions to modernity. Indeed, Boulouque shows that the pre-Freudian unconscious emerged from conversations in Jewish mysticism about otherness and coexistence. In the hopeful years before World War I, Boulouque argues that such reflections offered the possibility of emancipation not only to Jews but to all.
See other books on: Abyss | Edge | Jewish philosophy | Kabbalah & Mysticism | Mind & Body
See other titles from University of Chicago Press
