ABSTRACT
A wide variety of sources and influences have been cited as instrumental in the development of psychoanalysis. Freud himself, in his autobiography (1925a), reviewed some of the influences. Looking at his own development, he considered the interplay between external factors and originality, the effect of significant intellectual currents and individuals on the potential for creativity. The problem is one expressed by Cardinal Ippolito d'Este. Awed by the prodigious output of the Italian Renaissance writer Ariosto, he wondered, "Where did you find so many stories, Lodovico?" (Freud, 1908, p. 143).
