t is not by chance that psychoanaly-
sis was born in Vienna and came of
age there. In Sigmund Freud's
time-that is, in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries-the cultural

atmosphere in Vienna encouraged a fascination with both mental illness and -sexual problems which was unique in the Western world-a fascination that ex-tended throughout society, even into the imperial court which dominated Viennese social life. The origins of this preoccupation can be traced to the history of the city it...