Hunger and love: Schiller and the origin of drive dualism in Freud's work

Abstract

"The interpretation of dreams" was the first text in which Freud referred to the system of two drives (drive of self-preservation and the sexual drive). In order to understand how this question was at work in Freud's mind, one has to go back to 1898, when Freud began to write the third chapter of "The interpretation of dreams". One can then see, in contrast with Sulloway's assertions, how Freud was inspired by Schiller, whose shadow haunted his dreams between April and December 1898. The analysis of these dreams emphasizes how the references to Schiller's works and to the drive of self-preservation cover sexual impulses, in particular, those connected with the relationship to the father. The food drive or drive of self-preservation also enabled Freud to construct a heroic romance. He was thereby able to bury an internal criticism which was at odds with his persistence in describing the father as a seducer, and to conceal scenes in which he was defeated and sexually subdued by another boy.