Context
“Mourning and Melancholia” is Sigmund Freud's most extensive theoretical discussion of depressive illness. After presenting the topic orally at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in late 1914, Freud composed the first draft of the paper in the following February. It was originally written for inclusion alongside eleven other papers in a book on the theory of psychoanalysis, to be titled Preparatory Essays for Metapsychology. The book was never completed as such. For reasons which remain obscure, Freud deliberately destroyed seven of the twelve papers. The remaining five (“Instincts and Their Vicissitudes”, “A Metapsychological Supplement to the Theory of Dreams”, “Mourning and Melancholia”, “Repression” and “The Unconscious”) were published separately. “Mourning and Melancholia” first appeared in the Internationale Zeitschrift für Psychoanalyse in 1917. This final version differed little from the initial draft. However, it did...
2377 words
Citation: Ray, Nicholas. "Trauer und Melancholie". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 March 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16917, accessed 05 December 2025.]
