ix

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

WHEREAS a period of nine years elapsed between the first and
second editions of this book, the need for a third edition has
appeared after little more than a year. I have reason to be
pleased with this change; but, just as I have not considered
the earlier neglect of my work on the part of the reader as a
proof of its unworthiness, I am unable to find in the interest
manifested at present a proof of its excellence.

The progress in scientific knowledge has shown its influ-
ence on the Interpretation of Dreams. When I wrote it in
1899 the “Sexual Theories” was not yet in existence, and the
analysis of complicated forms of psychoneuroses was still in
its infancy. The interpretation of dreams was destined to
aid in the psychological analysis of the neuroses, but since
then the deeper understanding of the neuroses has reacted
on our conception of the dream. The study of dream in-
terpretation itself has continued to develop in a direction
upon which not enough stress was laid in the first edition of
this book. From my own experience, as well as from the
works of W. Stekel and others, I have since learned to attach
a greater value to the extent and the significance of sym-
bolism in dreams (or rather in the unconscious thinking).
Thus much has accumulated in the course of this year which
requires consideration. I have endeavoured to do justice to
this new material by numerous insertions in the text and by
the addition of footnotes. If these supplements occasionally
threaten to warp the original discussion, or if, even with their
aid, we have been unsuccessful in raising the original text to the
niveau of our present views, I must beg indulgence for the
gaps in the book, as they are only consequences and indica-
tions of the present rapid development of our knowledge. I
also venture, to foretell in what other directions later edi-
tions of the Interpretation of Dreams—in case any should be

x

THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS

demanded—will differ from the present one. They will have,
on the one hand, to include selections from the rich material
of poetry, myth, usage of language, and folklore, and, on the
other hand, to treat more profoundly the relations of the
dream to the neuroses and to mental diseases.

Mr. Otto Rank has rendered me valuable service in the
selection of the addenda and in reading the proof sheets. I
am gratefully indebted to him and to many others for their
contributions and corrections.

VIENNA, Spring of 1911.