| Chapter Five |
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Freud and the Devil: Sexual Seduction and Splitting IN THIS CHAPTER, some significant pathological characteristics of Freud’s personal psychology are discussed. This is needed in order to provide an understanding of his preoccupation with the Devil; in particular, a portrayal of Freud’s psychology is needed to understand his demonic pact. Was Freud Sexually Seduced as a Child?There are serious reasons proposed by Krüll to believe that Freud was sexually seduced or at least significantly eroticized as a child.1 We have already seen a hint that the nanny might be associated with something of the kind, but there is evidence that points in other directions as well. In any case, it will become clear that the issue of Freud’s possible childhood seduction is central to an understanding of Freud’s relationship both to religion and to the Devil. I begin by quoting a statement of Freud’s (part of which has been quoted in Chapter One). Freud was writing to Fliess about his nanny, his brother Julius (who died), his half-nephew John, God, and Hell: I still have not got to the scenes which lie at the bottom of this. If they emerge, and I succeed in resolving my hysteria [emphasis added], I shall have to thank the memory of the old woman who provided me at such an early age with the means for living and surviving. You see how the old liking breaks through again.2 In this statement, by referring to his own hysteria, Freud also implied that, whatever the cause of hysteria might be, he had experienced it |