Anna Freud's loom

Abstract

'Anna Freud's Loom' examines Anna Freud's relationship to weaving. Adopting a form of weaverly thinking, I begin by offering an account of Anna Freud's work at the loom as recollected by her friend and colleague Manna Friedmann. I go on to describe how a metaphorics connected to weaving is often employed in psychoanalytic literature, especially in the writings of Sigmund Freud, which I situate in relationship to the Freud family's historical and personal relationship to textiles. The article then examines Anna Freud's use of weaving as a therapeutic tool and as a process akin to the work of mourning. For Anna Freud, weaving was, I suggest, a kind of grief-work.

Keywords: Anna Freud; creative process; mourning; weaving.