ABSTRACT

The sphinx is a recurrent theme in Freud's writings. It sat prominent among the bibelots on his desk, was depicted in a painting in his office, and was a central theme in his writings. Why did Freud fantasy. according to Ernest Jones's account, that one day in the Hall of Fame his bust would bear the very inscription from Sophocles quoted at the beginning of this chapter? In 1906, his followers had a medallion struck as a birthday surprise and, with unconscious prescience, picked Freud's dreamed-of inscription. When Freud read the quote, he became "pale and agitated and in a strangled voice demanded to know who had thought of it."8 Why would Freud assign himself Oedipus' dreadful destiny?