“Strachey is Being Beaten”: Towards a History of Freudian Translations

Drawing upon his oral history research and archival investigations, the author explores the life and work of James Strachey, the principal translator of the original twenty-four-volume collection, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (1953–1974). The author investigates how James Strachey and, also, his wife, Alix Strachey, became the predominant translators of the works of Sigmund Freud from German into English across many decades. In spite of some of the more recent criticisms which have arisen about certain aspects of the Strachey version, the author underscores that, in view of the fact that Freud had psychoanalyzed both James Strachey and Alix Strachey, he actually offered huge approval of the Strachey approach. The author also salutes the more recent work of Mark Solms and expresses his gratitude that our profession now boasts access to several very elegant and very scholarly translations, all of which will help to educate clinicians and to promote the work of Freud more globally.