Herbert Silberer

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Herbert Silberer
Herbert Silberer: Four thousand kilometers in a balloon , published by Otto Spamer (1903)

Herbert Silberer (born February 28, 1882 in Vienna ; † January 12, 1923 ) was an Austrian psychoanalyst . He belonged to the circle around Sigmund Freud and was the brainchild of Carl Gustav Jung .

biography

Silberer was the son of the successful Viennese entrepreneur and balloonist Viktor Silberer . Sigmund Freud wrote in a letter dated July 19, 1909: “Silberer is an unknown young person, probably a fine dégéneré; his father is a Viennese personality, councilor and 'doer'. ”The contrast between a dominant, strong, successful and entrepreneurial father and a son who is inclined to introspect and devoted to dreams, fantasies, hallucinations and visions is reminiscent of the father-son relationship with Franz Kafka .

Viktor Silberer had the son raised to be an athlete. Like his father, Herbert Silberer was a balloonist, and in 1903 he published the book "4000 Kilometers in a Ballon" about his solo and night trips, which included aerial photographs he had made himself. He became editor of the “Allgemeine Sportzeitung” in Vienna, founded by his father, but lost more and more interest in sports journalism.

In 1907 Silberer joined the group around Sigmund Freud. Freud was initially enthusiastic about him and recommended his “report on a method to induce and observe certain symbolic hallucination phenomena” CG Jung for publication.

Silberer saw himself as a private scholar, worked on mantic, mystic and symbolism, and also joined a Masonic lodge. He was married twice. His first marriage to Lilli Tilgner was divorced in 1919. In the same year he married Berta Bloch.

Silberer was a member of the "Psychoanalytical Association", into which he was admitted in October 1910, for over ten years. However, it was increasingly controversial among the followers of Freud and Freud. He was assumed to be too close to CG Jung and Wilhelm Stekel, who were considered apostates.

From 1920 to 1922 he and Wilhelm Stekel published the periodical “Psyche and Eros”, a two-month magazine in English, which was financed by Samuel Tannenbaum in New York. This project did not have a long lifespan. According to Stekel, he was "finished" for Freud by this project. Silberer, who was still financially dependent on his father, last toyed with the idea of ​​working as a bank clerk. But that didn't happen.

On November 1, 1922, Silberer addressed the transference in a lecture on “Observations of Dreams” and emphasized the difference between material (content) and functional symbolization. A few months after this lecture, Silberer committed suicide. He had previously received a negative letter from Freud, which was linked to his suicide. The “Neue Freie Presse”, Vienna, on January 12, 1923, said about the background and circumstances of the death: “The writer Herbert Silberer ended tragically tonight. He had hanged himself in his apartment (...) in a state of mental overstimulation and was found dead. Mr. Silberer (...) had recently shown traces of nervous illness ... Silberer was a well-known writer. He acted as editor of the newspaper of the Austrian Aeroclub and also dealt a lot with problems of metaphysics and telepathy etc., which he dealt with scientifically. "

Silberer hanged himself - a symbolic act of suicide that was possibly consciously chosen in his tragedy - on the window cross.

Silberer and Freud

Herbert Silberer's attempt to join Freud's group came at a time of upheaval. Freud fell out with important allies such as Alfred Adler (1911), Wilhelm Stekel (1914) and CG Jung (1914). Freud, in whose work there are several references to Silberer, refers to Silberer's addition to his dream doctrine: “Silberer has shown, as is well known, that in states between sleeping and waking one can directly observe the conversion of thoughts into visual images, but that under such conditions Often it is not the content of the thought that occurs, but the state (of willingness, fatigue, etc.) in which the person struggling with sleep finds himself. He has also shown that some inferences from dreams and paragraphs within the dream content mean nothing other than the self-perception of sleeping and waking. So he has demonstrated the proportion of self-observation - in the sense of paranoid obsession with observation - in the formation of dreams. "

In an obituary in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis , however, the tense situation between Freud and Silberer becomes clear: “The deceased was a long-time member of the Vienna group, from which he had stayed away personally in recent years except for occasional visits. His scientific work, especially in the field of dream psychology, has received multiple appreciation in the psychoanalytic literature; But there was also no lack of critical objections to some unjustified generalizations. Silberer's interest was evidently outside the realm of psychoanalysis proper; he has worked with great success to the psychological understanding of the so-called occult phenomena, of which his main work: 'The Problems of Mysticism and Their Symbolism', 1914, testifies. "

Silberer and CG Jung

Silberer was the first to attempt a symbolic, psychological and psychoanalytic interpretation of an alchemical text. In doing so, he expands the field of interpretation of psychoanalysis and forms a link to Jung's symbolic, archetypal interpretation of dreams and their symbolism towards the individuation process .

Problems of mysticism and its symbolism

In his main work "Problems of Mysticism and its Symbolism" (1914), which has remained significant both psychologically and alchemically, he elaborates the process character and teleological significance of alchemy and translates its language into a psychological discourse. Silberer saw in alchemy a sequence of symbolic actions that could be deciphered psychologically. He took a longer passage from the book "The Secret Figures of the Rosicrucians " from 1785, called Parabola. In the introduction, Silberer writes programmatically: “In an old book I found a strange story called 'Parabola'. I place it at the starting point of my reflections because it is a welcome guide. In an effort to understand the parabola and penetrate it psychologically, we are led to wander through those fantastic areas into which I wish to lead the reader. At the end of our hike, with the understanding of the first example, we will at the same time have acquired knowledge of certain psychological laws. ”After the introduction and the printing of the“ Parabola ”, the analytical part begins. First he tries a psychoanalytic interpretation, then alchemy, hermetic art, Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry are used for interpretation. What is special is the attempt at a "multiple interpretation" of the text, which allows different readings and is not or cannot be reduced to a psychoanalytic interpretation alone. In the third part, he deepens his approach. Herbert Silberer found in this 18th century alchemical treatise 'Parabola' the symbolic representation of parricide, infantile sexual theories and other psychological phenomena.

Silberer and Piaget

The psychologist Jean Piaget writes of Silberer that he tried “to develop the theory of the symbol further by analyzing the images while half asleep using an original and fruitful method.”

Appreciation

Silberer's interest was in the development of symbols , their language and meaning. He felt like a transformer, a translator of the “old” symbolic language into a “psychological” language and thus into a reality that was accessible again. Here he did preparatory work for CG Jung. He can be seen as a pioneer of an archetypal depth psychology . His work is still relevant today.

Works and essays (selection)

  • 1903 Four thousand kilometers in a balloon. With 28 photographs taken from the balloon. Leipzig 1903.
  • 1909 Report on a method of evoking and observing certain symbolic hallucination phenomena. Jb. 1, pp. 513-525.
  • 1910 Fantasy and Myth. (Considered primarily from the point of view of the “functional category”.) Jb. 2, pp. 541–622.
  • 1911 a) Symbolism d. Awakening u. Threshold symbolism at all. Jb. 3, pp. 621-660.
  • 1911 b) About the formation of symbols. Jb. 3, pp. 661-723.
  • 1911 c) About the treatment of a psychosis by Justinus Kerner. Jb. 3, 724-729.
  • 1911 d) Forerunner of Freud's thoughts . Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse und Psychotherapie 1, pp. 441–449.
  • 1912 a) Spermatozoa dreams. Jb. 4, pp. 141-161.
  • 1912 b) On the formation of symbols. Jb. 4, pp. 607-683.
  • 1912 c) On the question of spermatozoa dreams. Jb. 4, pp. 708-740.
  • 1912 e) Mantik and psychoanalysis. Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse und Psychotherapie 2, pp. 78–83.
  • 1912 f) On the categories of symbolism. Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse und Psychotherapie 2, pp. 177–189.
  • 1912 g) Lekanomantische attempts. Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse und Psychotherapie 2, pp. 383–401, pp. 438–540, pp. 518–530, 566–587.
  • 1912 h) Fairytale symbolism. Imago 1, pp. 176-187.
  • 1914 a) Problems of mysticism and its symbolism. Vienna (Heller). 2nd edition: Darmstadt (Wiss. Buchges.) 1961. (New edition: AAGW, Sinzheim 1997, ISBN 3-937592-07-5 )
  • 1914 b) Mysticism and Occultism. Jb. 6, pp. 413-424.
  • 1914 c) The Homunculus. Im. 3, pp. 37-79.
  • 1914 d) The dismemberment motif in myth. Imago 3, pp. 502-523.
  • 1915 a) Through death to life. A brief investigation into the evolutionary significance of the symbol of rebirth in its original forms, with special consideration of modern theosophy. Heims, Leipzig. (New edition: AAGW, Sinzheim 1997, ISBN 3-937592-07-5 )
  • 1919 The dream. Introduction to dream psychology. Stuttgart (Enke).
  • 1919 On the creation of the symbols. Lecture on November 20, 1919 in the Grand Lodge in Vienna.
  • 1920 a) The origin and the meaning of the symbols of freemansonry. Psyche & Eros, pp. 17-24, pp. 84-97.
  • 1920 b) The Steinach in mythologie. Psyche & Eros, pp. 137-139.
  • 1921 a) The soul mirror. The enoptric moment in occultism. Pfullingen (tree). (New edition: AAGW, Sinzheim 1997, ISBN 3-937592-07-5 )
  • 1921 b) Chance and the goblin pranks of the unconscious. Bern, Leipz. (Bircher).
  • 1921 d) Beyond psychoanalysis. (Reflection on Sigmund Freud's Jenseits des Lustprinzips. 1920.) Psyche & Eros, pp. 142–151.
  • 1923 a) Superstition. Bern (Bircher).

literature

  • Sigmund Freud : Metapsychological supplement to dream theory . GW, X.
  • Jean Piaget : imitation, play and dream. The development of the symbolic function in the child . GW 5. Stuttgart 1975.
  • Carl Gustav Jung: Mysterium Coniunctionis. Investigations into the separation and composition of the mental opposites in alchemy. GW 14/2, Olten / Freiburg i. Br. 1971.
  • Karl Fallend: Herbert Silberer - "First Class Leader" and member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Association. In: WERKBLATT. Journal of Psychoanalysis and Social Criticism. No. 14/15, 1988, pp. 67-86.
  • B. Nitzschke:  Silberer Herbert. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 12, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2001-2005, ISBN 3-7001-3580-7 , p. 261 f. (Direct links on p. 261 , p. 262 ).
  • Bernd Nitzschke: Herbert Silberer - aeronaut and hallucination researcher. Keywords about his life and work. In: Ernst Federn and Gerhard Wittenberger (eds.), From the circle around Freud. On the minutes of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Association, Frankfurt / M. 1992.
  • Bernd Nitzschke: The danger of being at the mercy of oneself: Herbert Silberer, for example. In the S. (Ed.): On foot through the head - walks in the mountains of thought. Selected writings of Herbert Silberer - miscommunication about his life and work. Tübingen 1988, ISBN 3-89295-524-7 .
  • Bernd Nitzschke: Herbert Silberer. Sketches of his life and work . Revised text of the foreword to the new edition of "Problems of Mysticism and Their Symbolism", AAGW, Sinzheim 1997, ISBN 3-937592-07-5 .
  • Wilhelm Stekel : In memoriam Herbert Silberer. Advances in Sexology and Psychoanalysis. 1, 1924, p. 411.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Sigmund Freud, Carl Gustav Jung, Correspondence, Frankfurt / M. 1974, p. 267.
  2. ↑ Report on a method to induce and observe certain symbolic hallucination phenomena in: Yearbook for psychoanalytical and psychopathological research, 1909.
  3. ^ A b c Elke Mühlleitner (with the collaboration of Johannes Reichmayr ): Biographical Lexicon of Psychoanalysis. The members of the Psychological Wednesday Society and the Vienna Psychoanalytical Association 1902–1938, Edition Diskord Tübingen 1992, pp. 301–303.
  4. ^ Wilhelm Stekel: In memoriam Herbert Silberer, Advances in Sexual Science and Psychoanalysis. 1924, p. 411.
  5. ^ Sigmund Freud: Metapsychological supplement to the dream theory GW X, p. 164.
  6. ↑ International journal for psychoanalysis . Vol. 9, 1923, p. 119.
  7. ^ Jean Piaget: Imitation, Game and Dream. The development of the symbolic function in the child. GW 5, Stuttgart 1975, p. 247.
  8. ^ Four thousand ... 2013 edition, Springer-Verlag, reading sample, books.google.at
  9. ↑ Jb. = Yearbook for psychoanalytic and psychopathological research (from 1914: yearbook of psychoanalysis)
  10. ↑ ZS = International Journal for Medical Psychoanalysis (1913–1919; from 1920–1937: International Journal for Psychoanalysis; from 1939–1941: International Journal for Psychoanalysis and Imago).
  11. ↑ (The selection is based on: Bernd Nitzschke: Preface. [On the new edition of “Problems of Mysticism and Their Symbolism…”] p. 20 f.

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Silberer, Herbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian psychoanalyst
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH January 12, 1923