The Latest Breaking News from Sigmund Freud

In a world ravaged by war and sexual violence, a new edition of the great psychoanalyst’s works is a reminder of his continuing relevance, says academic Jacqueline Rose

A nude by Lucian Freud that took 16 months to paint sold for GBP13.9 million ($18.2 million) at a London auction on Wednesday, the first time the work, hailed as a "masterpiece," has come to market.

In The Substance, the career of former actor Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is diminished to daytime aerobics instructor on a television network. On her 50th birthday, she is made redundant by a network executive, Harvey (Dennis Quaid), who tells her “renewal is inevitable”.

The idea that prowess in activities like playing chess or writing poetry might be “fuelled” by frustrated, unconscious sexual desire is fairly well known today. But writing more than a century ago, Sigmund Freud was considered radical in his explanation of how sexual impulses could be transformed into creative or…