The Harvard Lectures

"This remarkable series of introductory lectures on psychoanalysis is, in fact, a lucid, elegant and profound overview of classic psychoanalytic theory, in which Anna Freud spells out the main aspects of psychoanalytic psychology. The simple and clear language characteristic of her lecturing, the precision of her concepts and their mutual relationships, and their liveliness of this comprehensive synthesis make for a thought provoking, exciting reading experience, even after forty years." (Otto Kernberg)

"In the nine lectures we have the privileged opportunity of rediscovering Anna Freud. Though the lectures were given forty years ago they are fresh, original, playful and useful psychoanalytic verities. These classical jargon-free lectures have a breathtaking capacity to go from direct observation to theory-building propositions with a lucidity in which simplifying never becomes simplistic and which features in a dogma-free fashion the practical aspects of child development and child care." (Albert J. Solnit M.D.)

"These nine lectures given by Anna Freud at Harvard University in 1952….vividly convey the spontaneity, clarity, and engaging quality of her didactic talks, prepared, if at all, only in her head. Forty years is a long time in psychoanalysis, but…they still provide, for the newcomer, a telling bird's eye view of the field, while the informed reader will recognize them as an important contribution to teaching technique in psychoanalysis." (Clifford Yorke, F.R.C.P., D.P.M.Psychiatrist-in-Charge)

Anna Freud