Freud and Fantasy: The Filters of Desire

One of the fundamental concepts in psychoanalysis, fantasy is defined as diversely as the theoretical approaches that address it. This book proposes to examine it within the work of Sigmund Freud.

The chapters follow the chronological path of Freud's work, including connections with his own later reflections. Fundamental points are highlighted in *Freud and Fantasy*, such as: the transformations that the use of the term "fantasy" underwent throughout Freud's work; the clarification of the constitution of psychic reality; the relationship between ontogenesis and phylogenesis in cultural transmission; symptoms; sexuality; the function of play and its relationship to the subject's defensive and creative constitution in the face of the challenges posed by nature and civilization.

Instructive and steeped in clinical experience, Carlos Alberto de Mattos Ferreira's writing guides the reader through the conceptual labyrinth traversed by the father of psychoanalysis. Drawing on his doctoral thesis, the author combines academic rigor with generosity toward the lay public.