Wilfrid Lay

Born in Brooklyn on January 3, 1872, Wilfrid Lay was an American writer and educator who studied at Columbia and at the University of Bonn. He is remembered chiefly for books that introduced psychoanalytic ideas to a broad English-speaking audience.

Lay wrote on the unconscious in everyday life, childhood, belief, and spiritualism. Among the works reliably associated with him are Man's Unconscious Conflict (1917), The Child's Unconscious Mind (1919), and Man's Unconscious Spirit (1921), all of which show his interest in explaining psychoanalysis in clear, accessible terms.

Although detailed biographical information appears to be limited in the sources found here, his bibliography suggests a writer deeply engaged with the psychological debates of the early twentieth century. His books sit at the meeting point of psychology, education, and popular intellectual life.