If I were planning to be stranded on a desert island, I wouldn't take Freud's books with me, because I've already read them all.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Very few people have actually read Freud, but everyone seems prepared to talk about him in that Woody Allen way. To read Freud is not as much fun.
I don't admire Freud as much as some people do. Imagine Shakespeare being aware of the Oedipal complex when he wrote Hamlet. It would have been a disaster.
I'm not that taken with Freudian perspectives. They seem to be overcomplicated.
Between the ages of 24 and 27, I read Freud's complete works, everything that had been translated into English. It was very stimulating intellectually. But I did not accept his view of neurosis or of human nature.
Books are my weakness.
You don't know when you are immersed in a book what the reaction to it will be, but I feel great about 'The Lake of Dreams.'
Someone asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island what book would I bring... 'How to Build a Boat.'
A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it.
When I first got back from the war, I said, 'I'm gonna write the Great American Novel about the Vietnam War.' So I sat down and wrote 1,700 pages of sheer psychotherapy drivel. It was first person, and there would be pages about wet socks and cold feet.
Freud was just a novelist.