The Forgotten Language

The Forgotten Language is one of Erich Fromm's best-known works, in which he analyses how people express their inner world through dreams, myths and fairy tales. The book explains that symbolic language is a "forgotten language" that humanity once understood naturally, but that most people today no longer know how to read.

The structure of the book

The book is divided into several main parts and is built as a deep introduction to the psychological meaning of symbols. Its main content is as follows:

1. Introduction

Fromm explains why modern people have become disconnected from symbolic language. He argues that dreams are neither random nor meaningless, but important messages coming from our inner world. If we don't understand them, we lose an important part of ourselves.

2. The nature of symbolic language

Here Fromm explains that symbolic language is the universal language of humanity. It expresses feelings, fears, desires and inner conflicts in the form of figures, images and scenes.

He divides symbols into three main categories:

• Conventional symbols – those we learn from society (such as words or a flag)
• Accidental symbols – those connected to personal experiences
• Universal symbols – those understood by all people, because they come from shared human experience

This part is the theoretical foundation of the whole book.

3. The nature of dreams

Fromm explains that a dream is a form of communication with oneself. In his view, when we sleep the mind does not rest – it speaks in another language: in symbols. Dreams reveal fears, desires, conflicts and truths that we often hide or suppress during the day.

4. Freud and Jung

In this part, Fromm compares the two greatest figures in dream interpretation: Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

• Freud saw dreams as expressions of repressed desires
• Jung saw them as messages from the collective unconscious and its archetypes

Fromm analyses both and develops a more balanced approach: dreams speak not only of instincts, but also of our emotional state, conflicts and inner development.

5. The history of dream interpretation

Here Fromm gives a historical overview of how people have understood dreams in different periods: from ancient times and religious interpretations to modern psychoanalysis. He shows that early civilisations always took dreams seriously.

6. The art of dream interpretation

This part is more practical. Fromm explains how dreams can be understood not mechanically, but psychologically. He stresses that interpretation isn't done with a "dictionary of symbols", but by looking at the person's life, emotions and personal conflicts.

7. Symbolic language in myths, fairy tales, rituals and novels

This is the most interesting part of the book. Fromm analyses several well-known stories as examples of symbolic language:

• The Oedipus myth
• The creation myth
• Little Red Riding Hood
• The Sabbath ritual
• The Trial by Franz Kafka

In these analyses, he shows that myths and fairy tales are not simply stories, but reflections of human conflicts, fears, desires and deep psychological structures.