Freud Out Loud

Civilization and its Discontents: A Marathon Reading The Centre for Creative and Critical Thought at the University of Sussex together with the Freud Museum London are pleased to announce a marathon reading of Sigmund Freud’s classic text, Civilization and its Discontents, at the Freud Museum on Sunday 14 June. Civilization and Its Discontents, written in 1929, remains the definitive text on human destructiveness. As news of wars around the globe, appalling brutality, religious conflict and sexual violence continue unabated, the relevance of this work is undeniable. ‘Men are not gentle creatures’ Freud wrote, ‘but ...creatures whose instinct [is] aggressiveness.’ The event is free with an admission ticket to the Freud Museum. There are no tickets and audience members can come and go as they please. This is a staged reading and interactive performance. The reading will last in all approximately four and a half hours. At the end, after the Museum closes, audience members are invited to stay for discussion and light refreshments. This staged reading revisits a classic text in a modern context, a face-to-face encounter for those hungry to engage with serious and pertinent ideas. A successful similar event took place in New York in January, and this is the first European marathon reading. Readers will include well known psychoanalysts, academics, writers, artists and performers. A list of confirmed names will be added shortly. “To read Civilization and its Discontents in 2015 is to bear witness to the deadly violence whose daily presence is all-too-familiar to us and imagine the conditions that might provide a loving counterweight to that violence.”  Simon Critchley, Philosopher. Readers include: Sara Jane Bailes, University of Sussex Caroline Bainbridge, Roehampton University Julia Borossa, Middlesex University Peter Boxall, University of Sussex Josh Cohen, Goldsmiths, University of London, psychoanalyst Gerald Davidson, actor, researcher Simon Glendinning, LSE, Philosopher Anouchka Grose, psychoanalyst and author Rachel Holmes, historian and author Deborah Levy, novelist Michael Molnar, researcher and former Director, Freud Museum London David Morgan, consultant psychotherapist, psychoanalyst Bpas Bpa Ankhi Mukherjee, University of Oxford Cathy Naden, performer/writer Dany Nobus, Brunel University London Ruth Padel, poet Jocelyn Pook, composer and musician Eric Prenowitz, University of Leeds Alan Read, King's College London Caroline Rooney, University of Kent Nicholas Royle, University of Sussex Kalu Singh, author Marquard Smith, Kingston University David Williams, RHUL, writer, dramaturg Timberlake Wertenbaker, playwright Sarah Wood, University of Kent