Agnieszka Sobolewska

This project is devoted to the first psychoanalysts’ life writing and can be placed at the intersection of cultural history, anthropology, philosophy and literature. It proposes a broad and interdisciplinary inquiry into socio-political shifts and cultural transfers in Central and Eastern Europe, with a special emphasis on the close dialogue between psychoanalysis, life writing, literature, philosophy and art before 1939. It focuses on the everyday writing practices of the first Freudians, analyzing the impact of life-writing documents on Sigmund Freud’s theory, and reflecting on varied theoretical concepts developed by less known Freudians such as Isidor Sadger and Fritz Wittels. By using their writings on the psychology of art and artistic creation, Sobolewska explores the interface between literature, art, and psycho-medical discourses between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.