1939

Freud group thumbnailImago becomes American Imago

Sigmund Freud and Hanns Sachs re-found the journal in the United States, seeking to continue the psychoanalytic discussions of culture, literature, and society begun in Europe. Freud suggests the title American Imago, and Sachs serves as editor.

In the first volume, Otto Fenichel, a fellow Central European immigrant psychoanalyst now living in America, contributes the piece "Psychoanalysis of Antisemitism."

On September 23, Freud dies in England at the age of 83.

Just a month later, Otto Rank (editor of the original Imago) also passes away.

Photo: Freud (seated, far left), Otto Rank (standing, far left), and Hanns Sachs (seated, far right)

1941

In the first issue of the second volume of American Imago, Austrian psychoanalyst and art historian Ernst Kris writes a piece called “The ‘Danger’ of Propaganda” on the nature of fascist propaganda.

In the Summer issue, Marie Bonaparte, Princess of Greece, contributes a piece called “The Myth of the Corpse in the Car,” an exploration of legend and sacrifice.

1942

Nandor Fodor, a parapsychologist and leading authority on paranormal phenomena of the time, contributes a piece called “Telepathic Dreams” on the effect of telepathic elements on dream life.

1943

Due to war shortages, the journal is forced to cease publishing for two years.