a-general-introduction-to-psychoanalysis-sigmund-freud

activity, as is something which one intends to write. In a large majority of
cases, therefore, the misreading consists in a complete substitution. One
substitutes another word for the word to be read, and there need be no
connection in meaning between the text and the product of the misreading.
In general, the slip is based upon a word resemblance. Lichtenberg's example
of reading "Agamemnon" for "angenommen"[21] is the best of this group. If
one wishes to discover the interfering tendency which causes the misreading,
one may completely ignore the misread text and can begin the analytic
investigation with the two questions: What is the first idea that occurs in free
association to the product of the misreading, and, in what situation did the
misreading occur? Now and then a knowledge of the latter suffices by itself to
explain the misreading. Take, for example, the individual who, distressed by
certain needs, wanders about in a strange city and reads the word
"Closethaus" on a large sign on the first floor of a house. He has just time to
be surprised at the fact that the sign has been nailed so high up when he
discovers that, accurately observed, the sign reads "Corset-haus." In other
cases the misreadings which are independent of the text require a penetrating
analysis which cannot be accomplished without practice and confidence in the
psychoanalytic technique. But generally it is not a matter of much difficulty to
obtain the elucidation of a misreading. The substituted word, as in the
example, "Agamemnon," betrays without more ado the thought sequence
from which the interference results. In war times, for instance, it is very
common for one to read into everything which contains a similar word
structure, the names of the cities, generals and military expressions which are
constantly buzzing around us. In this way, whatever interests and preoccupies
one puts itself in the place of that which is foreign or uninteresting. The aftereffects
of thoughts blur the new perceptions.
There are other types of misreadings, in which the text itself arouses the
disturbing tendency, by means of which it is then most often changed into its
opposite. One reads something which is undesired; analysis then convinces
one that an intensive wish to reject what has been read should be made
responsible for the alteration.
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