Sheila Kohler's "Dreaming for Freud"

Sheila Kohler was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She later lived in Paris for fifteen years, where she married, completed her undergraduate degree in Literature at the Sorbonne, and a graduate degree in Psychology at the Institut Catholique. She moved to the U.S. in 1981 and earned an MFA in Writing at Columbia. She currently teaches at Princeton University. Kohler's work has been featured in the New York Times, O Magazine and included in the Best American Short Stories. She has twice won an O’Henry Prize, as well as an Open Fiction Award, a Willa Cather Prize, and a Smart Family Foundation Prize. Her novel Cracks was nominated for an Impac Award, and has been made into a feature film to be distributed by IFC.

Here Kohler dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Dreaming for Freud:

I can imagine two actresses in the role of Dora (Freud's young patient in my novel who remains unnamed) They both played in the film of my novel Cracks. Juno Temple played Di and has also starred in Atonement; Imogen Poots who was Poppy, a more minor role in Cracks, is also a very talented English actress who was in The Last Quartet.

As for Freud perhaps he might be played here (he's forty four in the book) by Michael Fassbender who played Jung in A Dangerous Method. That would be a nice irony there!

For a director I would love Christine Vachan (Boys Don't Cry) who was also responsible in part for Cracks. I feel she would understand young Dora, a desperate adolescent who is surrounded by adults who betray her, and her need for a voice.

Visit Sheila Kohler's website.

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The Page 69 Test: Dreaming for Freud.

--Marshal Zeringue