Widely agreed to be Sigmund Freud's major and most original work, 'The Interpretation of Dreams' explores the universal phenomena of the unconscious mind. Through detailed investigation, Freud posits that dreams, like neurotic symptoms, are products of conflict and compromise between conscious and unconscious impulses. He distinguishes between the primary and secondary processes of thought and outlines the revolutionary theories of the Oedipus complex, infantile life, and sexuality as foundational elements of adult development. Depressed by its initially cool reception, Freud wrote in the Preface to the third English edition that it contained 'the most valuable of all the discoveries it has been my good fortune to make.' This Pelican Freud Library edition, translated and edited by James Strachey, is a cornerstone text for understanding the history of psychology and the analysis of human experience.