Alix Strachey (née Sargant-Florence; 4 June 1892 – 28 April 1973) was an American-born British

psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk th ...

and, with her husband, the translator into English of '' The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud''.

Life

Strachey was born in Nutley,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, United States on 4 June 1892. She was the daughter of Henry Smyth Florence, an American musician, and Mary Sargant Florence, a British painter.Dany Nobus, 'Strachey, James Beaumont (1887–1967)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 16 Feb 2017
/ref> Her brother, Philip Sargant Florence, became an

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and married the birth control activist Lella Faye Secor. Alix's father died in an accident when she was a baby. She attended

Bedales School Bedales School is a coeducational boarding and day public school, in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by Amy Garrett Badley and John Haden Badley in reaction to the li ...

, the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

, and

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

, where she read modern languages. In 1915 she moved in with her brother in his flat in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

and became a member of the

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group was a group of associated British writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the early 20th century. Among the people involved in the group were Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, Vanessa Bell, a ...

, where she met

James Strachey James Beaumont Strachey (; 26 September 1887, London25 April 1967, High Wycombe) of the Strachey family was a British psychoanalyst, and, with his wife Alix, translator of Sigmund Freud into English. He is perhaps best known as the general ed ...

, the assistant editor of ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

''. They moved in together in 1919 and married the following year on 4 June 1920 at St Pancras. In the same year they went to Vienna, where James, an admirer of Freud, began a

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...

with him. Soon afterwards Alix also underwent psychoanalysis. Alix and James's journey to Vienna in 1920 is seen as a key event in the development of psychoanalysis.100 years of history
psychoanalysis.org.uk, Retrieved 16 February 2017 Freud asked the couple to translate some of his works into English, and this was to become their lives' work. Both became psychoanalysts themselves, and as well as Freud's works also translated works by a number of other European psychoanalysts including

Karl Abraham Karl Abraham (; 3 May 1877 – 25 December 1925) was an influential German psychoanalyst, and a collaborator of Sigmund Freud, who called him his 'best pupil'. Life Abraham was born in Bremen, Germany. His parents were Nathan Abraham, a Jewish ...

Melanie Klein Melanie Klein (; ; Reizes; 30 March 1882 – 22 September 1960) was an Austrian-British author and psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst known for her work in child analysis. She was the primary figure in the development of object relations theory. Kl ...

and

Otto Fenichel Otto Fenichel (; 2 December 1897, Vienna – 22 January 1946, Los Angeles) was an Austrian psychoanalyst of the so-called "second generation". He was born into a prominent family of Jewish lawyers. Education and psychoanalytic affiliations Otto ...

. Their translations remain the standard editions of Freud's works to this day. She lived at

Marlow, Buckinghamshire Marlow ( ), historically Great Marlow or Chipping Marlow, is a town and civil parish within the Unitary Authority of Buckinghamshire, England. It is located on the River Thames, south-southwest of High Wycombe, west-northwest of Maidenhead and ...

, in the house "Lord's Wood" built for her mother (1899–1900).

Selected works

* ''A New German-English Psychoanalytical Vocabulary'', Published for the Institute of Psycho-analysis by Ballière. Tindall and Cox, 1943, 84 p. . * ''The Unconscious Motives of War'', New York, Universities Press, 1956 / Allen & Urwin, 1957, 283 p. . * ''The Psychology of Nationhood'' (1960)

Translations

* ''Selected Papers of Karl Abraham n Psycho-analysis' * Sigmund Freud, ''Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety'', 1936. * Melanie Klein, ''The Psycho-Analysis of Children'', Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence, rééd.1975, * (Collaboration) ''The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strachey, Alix 1892 births 1973 deaths People educated at Bedales School Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Bloomsbury Group British psychoanalysts German–English translators People from Nutley, New Jersey Strachey family Translators of Sigmund Freud Analysands of Karl Abraham 20th-century American women writers American translators American women psychologists 20th-century American psychologists 20th-century translators 20th-century American women scientists Writers from Essex County, New Jersey