Freud, Die Traumdeutung and dream formula. A reading of “Irma’s injection”

Abstract

Where is the key to the dream? When faced with this question, one often falls into error, recalling the Freudian distinction between latent and manifest content of the dream. The error consists in believing that the key to the dream is a matter of content (the latent content hidden behind the mask of the manifest content). If, on the other hand, one reads Freud carefully, picking up some valuable suggestions from Lacan and Žižek, one realises that the key lies precisely in the form. So to speak, in the way the form is formed, as demonstrated by the dream of Irma’s injection.