{"id":180613,"date":"2026-02-13T10:19:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T10:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raed.academy\/?p=180613"},"modified":"2026-02-13T10:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T10:19:10","slug":"when-freud-met-cervantes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raed.academy\/en\/when-freud-met-cervantes\/","title":{"rendered":"When Freud met Cervantes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Francisco

Dr. Francisco L\u00f3pez Mu\u00f1oz<\/p><\/div>\n

Francisco L\u00f3pez Mu\u00f1oz<\/u><\/strong><\/em><\/a>, Professor of Pharmacology and Vice-Rector for Research, Science, and Doctoral Studies at the Camilo Jos\u00e9 Cela University<\/strong>, member of the Academy of Military Sciences and Arts<\/strong>, Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of the Basque Country<\/strong>\u2014as well as those of C\u00e1diz, Seville, Eastern Andalusia, and Castile-La Mancha\u2014and Full Member of the Royal European Academy of Doctors (READ)<\/strong>, has published in the cultural journal \u201cHasta el tu\u00e9tano\u201d<\/strong>, together with Francisco P\u00e9rez Fern\u00e1ndez<\/strong>, Professor of Criminal Psychology and History of Psychology at the Camilo Jos\u00e9 Cela University, the article \u201cPsychoanalysis, Quixotes and Enchanted Dogs: When Freud Met Cervantes.\u201d<\/strong> In this work, the authors explore the interest of the renowned psychiatrist in classical literature and, in particular, in the universe surrounding madness created by Miguel de Cervantes<\/strong> in his works.<\/p>\n

The two scholars explain that during his adolescence the founder of psychoanalysis established, together with his friend Eduard Silberstein<\/strong>, a secret society called the Spanish Academy<\/strong>, aimed at learning the language and reading Cervantes in the original version. Both adopted the names Cipi\u00f3n<\/strong> and Berganza<\/strong>, the canine protagonists of \u201cThe Dialogue of the Dogs,\u201d<\/strong> one of Cervantes\u2019s \u201cExemplary Novels.\u201d<\/strong> In their youthful correspondence\u2014part of it written in Spanish\u2014Freud used these pseudonyms and developed an epistolary exchange that some scholars consider an embryonic antecedent of the therapeutic dialogue that would later characterize the psychoanalytic method.<\/p>\n

According to L\u00f3pez Mu\u00f1oz and P\u00e9rez Fern\u00e1ndez, \u201cDon Quixote\u201d<\/strong>, with its conflict between reality and fantasy embodied by Don Quixote<\/strong> and Sancho Panza<\/strong>, marked the genesis of certain principles of psychoanalysis. Cervantes\u2019s work has indeed been the subject of multiple interpretations from a Freudian perspective. The character of Don Quixote has been analyzed in terms of neurosis, narcissism, repression, death drive, and the conflict between desire and reality. The authors conclude that although it cannot be stated that Cervantes exerted a direct and decisive influence on Freudian theory, the epistolary evidence and conceptual parallels suggest that his reading played a significant role in Freud\u2019s intellectual formation, and that the convergence between literature and psychoanalysis\u2014far from being anecdotal\u2014constitutes an essential dimension of a body of work that constantly oscillated between science and narrative.<\/p>\n

In addition, L\u00f3pez Mu\u00f1oz shares with the academic community his participation in \u201cLas Minervas de la Academia,\u201d<\/strong> a series of educational episodes disseminated by the Academy of Military Sciences and Arts through its YouTube<\/strong> channel, aimed at bringing prominent figures and episodes of Spanish military history closer to the general public. In this case, the episode focuses on the legendary scientist Santiago Ram\u00f3n y Cajal<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Sigmund

Sigmund Freud<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cSantiago Ram\u00f3n y Cajal, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine<\/strong> in 1906, always felt a strong attraction to the military: \u2018It would make me the happiest of men,\u2019 he wrote in his \u2018Memoirs.\u2019<\/strong> He joined the Military Medical Corps<\/strong> in 1873 as a second lieutenant physician and, although assigned to the Carlist front, did not participate in combat operations. In 1874 he was deployed to the Cuban Expeditionary Army<\/strong> as a medical captain, remaining on the island for fourteen months. He served in what was considered the worst possible posting\u2014the field infirmaries of Vista Hermosa and San Isidro\u2014isolated stations deep in the jungle, unhealthy and difficult to supply. There he treated soldiers wounded in action as well as patients suffering from malaria and dysentery, arriving from mobile operational columns in Camag\u00fcey. He even took part, rifle in hand, in defending his camp against attacks by insurgent forces, commanding all able patients. Military command showed little interest in his scientific work; indeed, the commander of his outpost requested his replacement because he spent hours \u2018looking through a tube.\u2019 After contracting malaria and dysentery, Cajal was diagnosed with severe malarial cachexia and declared unfit for campaign service, returning to Spain in June 1875,\u201d explains the expert in the video.<\/p>\n

A recognized scholar and science communicator in contemporary history, Spanish Golden Age literature, medicine, and pharmacology, L\u00f3pez Mu\u00f1oz holds doctorates in Medicine and Surgery, Spanish Language and Literature, and Biomedicine and Pharmacy. He is a specialist in Pharmaceutical Medicine and holds a diploma in Holocaust Studies from the International School for Holocaust Studies<\/strong> at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. He is a researcher at the Hospital 12 de Octubre Research Institute<\/strong> in Madrid, a member of the Governing Board<\/strong> of the HM Hospitales Health Research Institute<\/strong>, and of the Miguel de Cervantes Institute for Medieval and Golden Age Studies<\/strong> at the University of Alcal\u00e1 de Henares<\/strong>. He serves as a member of the Science and Technology Council of the Community of Madrid<\/strong>, scientific advisor to the Ibero-American Committee on Ethics and Bioethics<\/strong>, member of the Observation Committee<\/strong> of the Spanish Human Rights Observatory<\/strong>, the Spanish Chapter<\/strong> of the Club of Rome<\/strong>, and honorary member of the Gandhi-Mandela Foundation<\/strong>. He has participated in numerous research projects and is the author of monographs and articles in his fields of expertise. He has recently been appointed Honorary Colonel of Kentucky and Honorary Civil Guard<\/strong>, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the creation of this distinction, the highest civilian honor awarded exceptionally by the corps.<\/p>\n

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