Arguing that Freud was fundamentally an artist, but that the artistic expression of his desires and fears was repressed, Chamberlain dissects and illuminates Freud`s life and thought. Using Freud`s own writing on art and the aesthetic theories of thinkers ranging from Nietzsche to Lionel Trilling, chamberlain explores Freud`s own imaginative creations. In sharp prose, Chamberlain aims to defuse the Freud Wars and provides a fascinating re-view of the great thinker, filled with new interpretations of biographical anecdotes and Freud`s private letters, as well as of his published writings.