Book Description

The Freud Encyclopedia: Theory, Therapy, and Cultureis a comprehensive, one-volume reference work containing entries on the life, work, and theories of Sigmund Freud.

Latest scholarship on key Freudian theories and concepts. The book discusses the most recent work on such topics as the theory of dreams, the concept of repression, defense mechanisms, and the Oedipus complex. Also included are essays on later psychoanalytic theories such as object relations and self psychology.

Information on psychoanalytic therapy and techniques The encyclopedia contains a wealth of articles on all aspects of the practices and its theories of psychoanalysis. As the founder of psychoanalysis, Freud is a seminal figure in the development of techniques of treatment and of the philosophical foundations of the psychoanalytic movement.

Biographies of major figures The book includes biographical sketches of Freud himself and of the leading figures in the Freudian movement, including Melanie Klein, Karl Abraham, and Otto Rank. Essays can also be found on philosophers who anticipated or influenced Freud, such as Schopenhauer, Brentano, and Nietzsche.

International in scope The encyclopedia has essays on psychoanalytic developments in twenty-five countries and covers the criticisms and defenses of Freud's work written by leading specialists around the world.

Sigmund Freud is regarded as one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century, and interest in his life and work remains high. This book will contribute to a further understanding of his influence and of the current evaluations and debates surrounding his work. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Review of Freud & Freudianism
Erwin's Freud Encyclopedia is a curious mixture of very scholarly articles clearly aimed to impress other scholars and/or to make a major contribution to Freud scholarship and many articles designed to introduce educated laymen to the work of Sigmund Freud. Happily, the latter is the dominant portion. Of some 240 articles I found at least a dozen nearly impenetrable, either because of the technical demands or abominable style. Another two dozen were difficult but not of any general interest. That leaves roughly 200 articles that were interesting and readable - not a bad percentage.

When I turned to write my review of the encyclopedia, my eye caught a previous review which expressed unhappiness with the encyclopedia solely on the basis of a single article. This is astonishing when one considers not a single encyclopedia ever has been or ever will be written that doesn't contain a very bad article. The problem is that in this case the wrong article was selected for condemnation.

The article in question is by Charles Socarides, a psychiatrist well known for his anti-homosexual outlook. In the case in question, however, Socarides confines himself to Freud's views about homosexuality and does not express his own. Thus, maintaining, as the author does, that Socarides is the wrong man for the job is a plain mistake. The article is actually one of the best in the encyclopedia and it lays out in clear but elegant language what Freud thinks. Unlike his predecessor, Krafft-Ebing, Freud did not think homosexuality a dark perversion but provided a sympathetic portrayal of it. Moreover, even if Freud did have by contemporary standards, a preposterous understanding of homosexuality, it would be important to know what he thought. In fact, he had no preposterous ideas.

The encylopedia is not redundant. There are other psychoanalytic encyclopedias that deal with the standard topics but they do not limit themselves to Freud's views about these matters. Accordingly, they do not cover Freud on these matters to the same degree of depth. Here we do not merely have articles on repression, catharsis, infantile sexuality but Freud on each of these issues. Consequently, the articles are less surveyish in character. Thousands of articles have been written on, say, infantile sexuality, including the Freudian view of it but inevitably something is lost - namely, how Freud himself elaborated the topic.

The work is obviously the product of almost a decade of work if for no other reason than that it contains so many superstars as contributors. There is always a bit of the prima donna in such persons and one can just imagine the delicate negotiations the editor must have exhaustively carried on. I would recommend this book for every psychoanalyst, of course. That goes almost without saying. Also there is much here for general psychiatrists and clinical psychologists, whether Freudian, "eclectic" or what-have-you. Clinical social workers may also have good use for the book but the price is steep. Still, pricewise, it beats long term subscriptions to 90% of the journals.

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Review of Encyclopedia of Freud & Freudianism
As a licensed clinical social worker and teacher, I have studied Freud and experienced his influence in many fields of study including psychology, education, anthropology and sociology. This is by far the best psychoanalytic encyclopedia I have ever consulted, suitable for all professionals and interested laymen.

Comments on a Mistaken Review
Whether Sigmund Freud was mainly right or mainly wrong, his ideas have had an astonishing range of influence in anthropology, psychology, psychiatry, history, philosophy, art, cinema, and literature. The recently published "Freud Encyclopedia: Theory, Therapy, and Culture" represents the best of recent Freud scholarship. It contains approximately 240 entries written by past presidents of the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the American Philosophical Association, and the Psychoanalytic Division of the American Psychological Association, and by leading Freud scholars from around the world...

The encyclopedia contains an entry on Freud's theory of homosexuality but none on homosexuality per se; the criticized essay explains Freud's views but does not claim that homosexuality is a treatable perversion. That claim appears nowhere in the encyclopedia...

Edward Erwin, Editor, "The Freud Encyclopedia" ... Read more

Book Description

Advance Praise for Louis Breger’s FREUD

"Louis Breger’s rich and readable study of Freud offers a thoughtfully complex account of a great but flawed man. Everyone with an interest in psychoanalysis and the psychoanalytic movement will enjoy exploring, grappling with, arguing about, and learning from this absolutely fascinating book."—JUDITH VIORST, AUTHOR,

Necessary Losses and Imperfect Control "Written with brilliance and insight, Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision takes us on a daring, at times chilling, journey to the early years of psychoanalysis, revealing both the human weaknesses and the professional triumphs of its founder. . . . Cutting away the accretions of fabrication and romance cloaking Sigmund Freud, Breger has reinstated historical honesty to its rightful, high place, but the figure who emerges at the end of this breathlessly honest biography is quite as extraordinary as the legend concocted by Freud and perpetuated by his followers. Fresh, vigorous, and lucid."—PHILIP M. BROMBERG, Ph.D., CLINICAL PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

"Louis Breger’s fine new biography of Freud is a welcome contribution to the existing literature and a corrective to much of it. It is also one of the best intellectual histories of the origin and development of psychoanalysis I have read in recent years. Breger is to be commended for his original research, the objectivity of his views, and the elegance and grace of his writing."—DEIRDRE BAIR, NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER FOR Samuel Beckett AND AUTHOR OF A FORTHCOMING BIOGRAPHY OF CARL JUNG

"Finally, the Freud biography we have long been waiting for. With the history of Europe in the background, we follow with fascination Freud’s journey from an impoverished childhood filled with losses to worldly fame, ending in exile in England. We come to understand the impact of Freud’s difficult personality on the development of his brilliant as well as questionable theoretical ideas. Breger writes with compassion and fairness toward Freud as well as toward the many interesting personalities who cross his life, with their complicated relationships to the great man."—SOPHIE FREUD, FREUD’S GRANDDAUGHTER AND PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF SOCIAL WORK, SIMMONS COLLEGE

"Louis Breger’s magnificent book is the definitive work on the personal psychology of Sigmund Freud. it brilliantly illuminates how the darkness in Freud’s vision has affected psychoanalytic history. This book will be central for psychoanalytic scholarship for decades to come."—GEORGE E. ATWOOD, Ph.D., PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY ... Read more

Reviews (15)

And the truth shall set you free
An excellent treatment of not only the man and his work, but the time and context in which it should be viewed. Breger's greatest treatment of this topic is his use of context in which he views the work and events surrounding Freud and his comtempoaries. A remarkable piece of research that should be mandatory reading for all behavioral science majors at the undergraduate level.

Breger's struggle to provide balance in his treatment of Freud is quite evident in the context of his research. He never questions Freud's contribution to advancing the school of Psychoanalysis. What he does point out is that even a man of his stature is just as human as anyone else in his interpretation of reality. Any competent therapist must not only know this but insure that he/she does not permit their own issues to impact their efforts to assist others. It is this incredible blindness that Breger points out as his chief criticism of Freud which is why the title of his book "Darkness in the Midst of Vision" is so appropriate.

Congratulations on an outstanding effort!

"Darkness" is Illuminating
As one contemplates purchasing this biography, attention must be paid to the subtitle: "An Analytical Biography." This is not an all-encompensing portrait of Freud, in that it's not focussed on his many contributions. Rather, the biographer provides a rare glimpse into a man who's name has been omnipresent in all of psychology as well as the arts since his works first began to be published at the end of the 19th century.

Frued's influence is undeniable and inescapable. Yet, there remain very few studies into the psychology of the man himself. What is found mostly are brief accounts of Freud's genius and heroism. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, what we have with this biography is a psychological profile of the man himself.

In this biography, there is no "hero worship" to speak of. I would like to say that the biography is balanced, but it's not, and that is not even the point. I believe the reason to read this book is to gain account of historical facts that have been white-washed and profound insights that are missing in other Freud studies. We learn, for instance, of the dynamics between Freud and his mother, which (fascinatingly) were characterized by avoidance, fear, guilt, and denial. We also learn of Freud's far-reaching, heavy-handed influence in the early days of psychoanalysis, a level of control that managed to destroy careers, even lives.

One could be left with a vision of Freud-as-tyrant. In this case, pick up another biography of Freud, and you will find some "lightness" to counter the darkness presented in this biography. This book is not, however, some sort of hatchet job. It is vital, important, clear-headed, insightful, and absolutely necessary to gain an understanding of Freud the man. He was no different than the rest of us. This biography helps to balance unreasonable "hero-worship" that, after all, isn't helpful or conducive to level-headed understanding human nature.

Our Golden Sigi
He was the founder and autocratic (some would even say dictatorial) leader of one the most controversial, yet profoundly influential, intellectual movements of 20th century. While his own thought sought to systematically dismantle the prevailing medical orthodoxy of his era, it simultaneously introduced a new and even more rigid orthodoxy. Though he was largely uninterested in politics, he proved himself to be the consummate politician, always carefully calculating the effects his actions would have on his movement, the psychoanalytic movement, as a whole. He zealously recruited the best and brightest minds of the time, only to shackle and ultimately squander much of their individual creativity through an endless series of loyalty tests in which the more sycophantic and unquestioning you were, the higher you rose within the inner-circle. His fateful obstinacy extended even to his own physical well-being, as he continued to smoke his trademark pipe even after much of his lower jaw had rotted off from the cancer that eventually killed him.

Freud is a legend, no doubt. But, as this skillful biography of the man makes clear, his legendary status is marked as much by deep personal flaws as by personal greatness. This is only fitting for the man who invented psychoanalysis. We all have tendencies toward self-mythologization, towards the creation of a narrative which minimizes our weaknesses (either by ignoring them outright or blaming their causes on others) and maximizes our strengths. Indeed such narratives are but the linguistic manifestation of our unconscious defense mechanisms. And consequently much of analysis centers around penetrating the core of this chain of signifiers and discovering the breaks, infinite loops and ideological repetitions within. And while he is no Lacanian (the Frenchman is never even mentioned in this text), Breger's analysis is completely given over to this psycho-linguistic imperative, an imperative which is governed and ultimately enforced by the biographical narrative of Freud himself.

This is because so much of what has been written about Freud's life has been directly influenced by Freud's pathological desire to craft a public persona that fits within his own neurotic view of himself as the great conqueror . And so Breger's destructuring of the typical Freudian biographical narrative is tantamount to a bloody confrontation with the man's well-fortified psycho-linguistic defense mechanisms (Freud himself always spoke of analysis in military terms). Whether we're talking about Freud's own autobiographical hero narratives ("On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement", "An Autobiographical Study"), Jones' dutiful doting, or even the more recent version of the same by Peter Gay, the man himself is almost always lost in the excremental haze of pre-digested meaning. Thus Freud's neuroses--his travel phobia, his dislike of music, his prudish attitudes towards sex, his desperate, inverted oedipal desire to slay his adopted male children (Jung, Adler, Rank, Ferenczi)--are rarely given the hermeneutical space necessary to stand in their proper relation to the events of his life. Breger's diegetic approach places the events of Freud's life in their proper socio-historical context, but without simply substituting history for personal responsibility, as is so often the case. Freud's cruelty (towards his fellow analysts, towards his patients) is shown to be a symptom of his neuroses, rather than mere juridical technique. (Freud constantly claimed that utter coldness and neutrality was required in the relationship between analyst and analysand, but he was most successful as a therapist when he befriended his patients and showed them warmth and sympathy.)

As you may have guessed, Breger is a practicing analyst, which obviously brings certain prejudices to his account of Freud's life. But Breger shows a remarkable level of honesty by pointing out this fact himself in a section at the end the book. And though I may quibble with him over his emphasis on the primacy of personal trauma over the primacy of sexuality and the role of larger social institutions in the formation of the individual ego, I still think this is a superb example of that particularly personal form of insight which only the very best of psychoanalysts can achieve.

A fine piece of work.

Factually fulfilling
This book informed me on the one question that I most wanted to know about Freud. I have been reading a lot of magazines, in which the funniest thing that could relate Freud's life to our times was that he had been ask to sign something, like Americans being able to waive a few rights in order to achieve some meaningful concessions from a government which had its own ideas about the kind of order which needs to be imposed. All Freud wanted was to leave Vienna, after "a gang of storm troopers did come to the apartment and confiscated $500," (p. 359), "the Nazis moved in on the Psychoanalytic Press and arrested Martin for a day," (pp. 359-360), "the Gestapo took Anna in for a day of questioning," (p. 360), and:

There is a widely circulated story that before finally allowing the party to leave, the German authorities made Freud sign a document stating that he had been treated with `respect and consideration.' It is said that he asked if he could add something, and wrote, "I can heartily recommend the Gestapo to anyone." This sounds like a fine bit of Freudian irony, though it would have been foolhardy to endanger so many lives on the very point of departure. The document has subsequently been found and it contains no such comment. Perhaps it was what Freud imagined himself writing. (p. 360)

This reminds me, too much, of Nietzsche, in ECCE HOMO, complaining that Stendhal "took away from me the best atheistical joke that precisely I might have made" (Walter Kaufmann translation, p. 244). As R. J. Hollingdale put it, in the Penguin Classics edition, "Perhaps I am even envious of Stendhal? He robbed me of the best atheist joke which precisely I could have made:" (p. 28). In a thoroughly comic society, any book which can precisely describe the setting for the best joke I ever read, "I can heartily recommend the Gestapo to anyone," deserves to be read. I hope it is this useful for everyone.

This IS the Man, Myth and His Chilling Darkness
I am not expert in psychoanalysis. What drew me into this book was the humanization of this slightly stooped, ambitious, clearly brilliant, altogether bourgeois, autocratic, but - yes - great man. Breger shows us, mostly sympathetically, a thoroughly human man, with all the foibles and prejudices of his time. But Breger also shows us the other side of the coin - a fanatic drive for personal fame and a chilling cruelty to all of the many who even slightly questioned his drive for mythic status. We realize the revolution in the late 19th and early 20th centuries wrought by Freud's brilliant, if now widely regarded as deeply flawed, insights into the nature of the mind. Indeed, that there is such a thing as a subconscious, an id ("the horse"), ego ("the man on horseback"), and superego (the rider's "internal voice"). There are so many famous Freudian phrases that virtually all his basic theses have "passed into the common domain", almost biblically, in Breger's typically serviceable prose.

I would recommend this aptly titled "Freud: darkness in the midst of vision" to any interested lay person, not for critiques of Freudian theories, though they are well-presented and solidly researched. Rather, I recommend this for Breger's at times soaring descriptions of Freud's utterly fascinating inner demons and his tempestuous relationships with colleagues: the 'Napoleon of neuroses' Charcot; Brucke of the "terrifying blue eyes"; his 'beautiful' Ernst Fleischl, whom he bathed, and whose photo was the only one in his consulting room, 45 years after Fleischl's death. The [narcotics], the nicotine addiction, the erotic Jung, the dissenter Adler, the hagiographer Anna Freud, and on and on --explosive relationships powerfully described. Through it all, Breger mostly succeeds in giving us a balanced criticism of Freud's ideas and, more excitingly, an intimate view of the deeply complex man. The rare photos, integrated into the text, are a treat. ... Read more

Book Description

This abridged edition makes the Freud/Jung correspondence accessible to a general readership at a time of renewed critical and historical reevaluation of the documentary roots of modern psychoanalysis. This edition reproduces William McGuire's definitive introduction, but does not contain the critical apparatus of the original edition. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A fight of Titans for primacy in the field of Psychanalisys.
This is a sad book to read. In fact, one would not expect that such a type of bad development would occur between the two most important figures of psychoanalisys. It is as if Marx and Engels had broken their friendship for life and began to fight for fame and glory in front of everybody. The spoil was huge: nothing more than the primacy for fame and glory in the first steps of psychanalisys.

Sure, the letters span a pretty much limited space of time of no more than 8 years (1906-1914) but the reader has to keep in mind that what was at stake was the establishing of the foundations of psychoanalisys all over Europe and also in the whole World.
What began as a cordial friendship and evolved into an almost father (Freud) to son (Jung) relationship, deteriorated into the most depressive fighting of personal primacy on many subjects. In this regard, it seems that the feud was initiated by Freud who considered Jung a type of his personal assistant to market the developments of his findings
THe fact that this is a abridged edition does not mean nothing except that here the common reader will find the most important material exchanged by the two great men and will be saved from some meaningless material of more burocratical tone.
Also of value is the introduction that ilustrates all the effort made by the two family sides to publish the letters, in spite the view by Jung that the ideal time for them to be published would be 20 to 30 years after his death.

THis is a must reading for anyone interested in the history of psychanalisys. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Plaftorm For Freud's Detractors Is This Book's Best Feature
Osborne and Mechan provide their readers with an informed overview of Freud and his many detractors over the years. However, they fawn over Freud more than I care for, as Freud's defenders are so good at doing. Like every Freud defender, they make much of the influence his thought had on the Western world in the 20th century, as if influence speaks volumes about the validity of an ideology. Modern western biological psychiatry had a tremendous amount of influence on the 20th century, but that doesn't mean its not a modern form of religion dressed up as a modern medical science.

No matter what kind of linguistic garb you dress up Freud's thinking on psychology and psychoanalysis in, it always has been and always will be religion trying to masquerade as a modern science. Freudian concepts of the id, ego, superego, unconscious, et al., are simply modern terms for angels, ghosts and other holy spirits we find in religion, and psychoanalysis is a modern form of the confessional. Freud's notions of femininity and "Penis Envy" have to be the most fearful expressions about women I have ever heard. Spin religion with lots of big scientific sounding words and a peculiar obsession with sex, and you've got the essence of Freud. The authors give Freud's detractors, like Eysenck, a platform to make mince meat out of Freud's ramblings, which is this book's best feature.

The book's illustrations include an ongoing narrative between Freud and a CIA agent investigating what the good Doctor is up to, and whether he is a subversive or not. At the end of the book the agent presents a report to his bosses at CIA headquarters. Among the individuals at spook headquarters is none other than Joe McCarthy. The impression the author's give their readers is that Freud's work was a revolutionary bombshell in the 20th century. Redressing religion in confusing and stupid sounding language and inspiring millions people to attend a modern form of the confessional known as psychoanalysis is hardly revolutionary. Revolutionary upheavals occur when people organize for social change en mass, like during the golden age of the labor movement in the '30s or the civil rights movement in the '50s and '60s, not when people are sitting around moping about their existential problems at confession.

Reservations aside, this is a good introduction to Freud. Better than Introducing Psychoanalyis.

Its a good book, that maybe will keep you in the subject
I found it as a good book, altough I dont know anything in the matter, it is a short book that many people should read, it is informative and talks about Freud's more important works, as well as a little about his life and background.

Illustrations are good and keep you entertained.

Frued Explained
Although this book does not give a full account of Freud's works and theories, it does give a credible attempt at looking at the life, works and influences of his works. Starting out with a biography of Dr. Frued, the family affair, the education, as well as his associates. Soon looking in to the psychological theories of his works. His relationship and hardship with Dr. Carl Jung, and so many of the followers Freud had, lost and kept in his battle of Judaism and Nazism. Well accounted, fun and easy to read which makes the learning fun and easy as well. Reccomended to anyone curious about Freud without beign bogged down with technical and scholarly works. This is a good companion to Jung and Adler for Beginners. One can't also neglect "A Primer for Freudian Psychology." ... Read more

Amazon.com

One way of learning the difference between the sheep and the goats, according to Armand M. Nicholi Jr., is to look at the lives of Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis side by side. The Question of God is based on Nicholi's popular Harvard course comparing the two men and their worldviews. Lewis represents "the spiritual worldview, rooted primarily in ancient Israel, with its emphasis on moral truth and right conduct and its motto of Thus saith the Lord"; Freud represents "the materialist ... worldview, rooted in ancient Greece, with its emphasis on reason and acquisition of knowledge and its motto What says Nature?" Nicholi believes that everyone embraces some form of one of these worldviews, and The Question of God helps readers figure out which camp they're in. For the most part, this book remains neutral on the question of who's right and who's wrong. Nevertheless, The Question of God does give Lewis the last word. --Michael Joseph Gross ... Read more

Reviews (29)

Effective Christian Propaganda
Armand Nicholi's The Question of God presents itself as a fair and balanced presentation of theism versus atheism as told through the writings and perceptions of two of modern histories' most influential men: C.S. Lewis (for the theistic side) and Sigmund Freud (for the atheistic side.) Nothing, however, could be further from the truth.

Nicholi's well-written and fascinating book is nothing more than Christian propaganda disguised as objective scholarship. This becomes abundantly clear about halfway through when he repeatedly implies that atheists (or, rather, those like Freud who embraced a naturalist world-view) are generally fearful, dour, negative and unhappy while theists (or, more precisely, Christians) like Lewis are content, positive, fun-loving and kind. To his credit, Dr. Nicholi doesn't hit the reader over the head with his presumption-he is more subtle than that-but that is the only reasonable conclusion an objective reader could possibly get out of it. In contrasting Freud's unhappy life with Lewis' apparently more joyful existence (particularly after his conversion to Christianity at age 33) he repeatedly demonstrates the point that only within a spiritual world-view is happiness possible which, even if potentially true, is hardly objective. Even though the book tells the reader to decide for himself which man's world-view is best, Nicholi, however, leaves little doubt which one has the strongest hand.

Lest anyone imagine I am a grumpy old atheist with an ax to grind, that is not true. I hold to the spiritual world-view and come out of an evangelical Christian background (though my views have taken on a considerably more ecumentical flavor as of late); yet even a huge Lewis fan like myself could tell when old Sigmund was being set up. He simply can't compete with Lewis' more eloquent arguments or personable style. Whereas Freud comes across as angry, arrogant, fearful and frequently depressed (and as such one more in need of receiving therapy than dispensing it), Lewis appears caring, clever, humble, and upbeat, leaving Freud and his naturalist world-view looking pretty dismal in comparison. This, naturally, forces the reader to assume-as Dr. Nicholi apparently does-that most of Freud's woes were the direct result of his own militant atheism. Though he does acknowledge that Freud might have been dour for other reasons, such as the blatant anti-Semitism he suffered all his life (at the hands of professing "Christians" no less) and his dysfunctional upbringing, it is still clear he perceives his world-view to be the real culprit. I wonder, though, how Lewis would have looked upon Christianity had he been a victim of religious intolerance or if Freud had grown up a gentile? It's hard to tell.

The biggest problem with the book, however, is in pairing Freud with Lewis, especially as the two men were not contemporaries of each other (Freud died just as Lewis was beginning to come into his own as a writer and apologist) leaving Freud with no opportunity to rebut Lewis' comments (a point the author, in all fairness, does acknowledge.) Further, Lewis had the distinct advantage of having been an atheist for thirty years, giving him a thorough understanding of the atheist's viewpoint beforehand, whereas Freud had no such experience with or understanding of the theistic or supernatural world view. As such, I think Lewis would have been better matched against the celebrated American atheist Bertrand Russell-a scholar and writer on Lewis' level-or if Freud had been paired up against his colleague and former pupil, Carl Jung (who in later life embraced the spiritual world-view Freud was to so determinedly fight.) Such pairings would have produced debates that would have been more truly objective and balanced (and, I suspect, heated); comparing Freud's psycho-analytical musings with Lewis's traditional apologetics, however, is like comparing the dancing styles of Fred Astaire to that of Eminem.

Finally, the other element missing from the book is the third voice of eastern metaphysical thought. Lewis and Freud debate issues like the existence of God, sin, sexuality, and death from a purely western standpoint, treating God as the monotheistic, transcendent deity of western religion. An eastern perspective on reincarnation and divine immanence, however, would have been an interesting counter to both Freud's and Lewis' arguments, and would have really given the reader something to think about. As such, the book remains incomplete in that it offers one only two different doors in a room filled with doors. I suspect, however, that Dr. Nicholi was not really interested in presenting diverse options in theology but was instead out to endorse a particular religious perspective from the beginning. I don't mind if one has made that their stated objective from the start, of course, but it seems a little disingenuous to sneak it in dressed in the clothing of objectivity when it is nothing of the kind.

In any case, I still give the book four stars just because Dr. Nicholi does such a superb job with the material in general. Even though he has left vast areas of the nature of the Divine unexplored, he still gives the reader a thought-provoking perspective from which to begin their own spiritual journey, and so I highly recommend this book for the true theophile.

Fascinating examination of two extraordinary thinkers
Nicholi's The Question of God illuminates in an extraordinary way how two of the great minds of recent history explored the most intriguing questions in life, perhaps the only ones that really matter. Nicholi sets up a fictional debate of sorts that pits Freud, espousing a secular worldview, against Lewis's spiritual one. The dialogue is riveting. Using excerpts from the volumes of written material the two men produced over their lifetimes, Nicholi skillfully culls passages that give insight into how each man struggled with the "great questions" of life and how each ultimately developed and then embraced his own definition of truth. It's interesting to note other reviews of this book as biased towards Lewis since Nicholi is widely known as being psychoanalytically trained. I found the book the well balanced with the author as adroit facilitator.

Wisdom for all
I just finished The Question of God, what a great book! I'm still 20, and was very happy to acquire some wisdom from both Lewis and Freud. I could identify with both of them, specially in their pursuit of The Thing - God to Lewis, happiness through sex to Freud - and learn from their virtues and mistakes. Regardless what you believe, you'll learn from both, and Nicolli himself too.
The book very is carefully written, engaging in each chapter. You see that Nicolli really worked hard to find all the material and put it in the meaningful places. The chapter on love is worth the whole book, so I think is each chapter. I plan to reread the book many times, and my friends who saw it are all reading it too.
For further readings by both Lewis and Freud, I recommend Mere Christianity from Lewis (the best book I've read), and Civilization and its Discontents (something like that in English), which portrais the brilliance and some philosophical arguments of Freud. It is not very clear and homogeneous in quality, but worth. And do yourself a favour and read everything you find written by Lewis, the guy is all wisdom.

For the open-minded
One reviewer describes this book as "propaganda," but this misses the point. The author Dr. Armand Nicholi, is a practicing psychiatrist and a professor at Harvard Medical School who has taught a course based on the subject of this book at Harvard College for more than 25 years. And the author shows that Lewis didn't merely "flirt with atheism during his youth," as one reviewer states, but was indeed a Freudian atheist while he was a professor at Oxford. No condescension or smugness by the author or Lewis is intended, just a challenging comparison of views based on prodigious research. But it does take a certain open-mindedness to benefit

Christian propaganda disguised as scholarship
A very dear friend who disapproves of my atheism sent me THE QUESTON OF GOD -- from Amazon, in fact -- in the hope that it would convert me to Christianity. Alas, it has had the reverse effect. The book pretends to be a dispassionate examination of the lives and religious (or irreligious) views of Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis, the one a lifelong atheist, the other someone who flirted with atheism during his youth but returned to Christianity. In reality, however, the book is thinly disguised Christian propaganda, so relentlessly manipulative and annoyingly tendentious, so eager to win us over to Jesus, chapter after chapter, that its very one-sidedness had me rooting for Freud -- and respecting him all the more for his courage, his humility, and his often self-lacerating honesty -- each time the author attempted to score points off him. Armand Nicholi is a professor of psychology who writes more like a minister or priest. (He's convinced, for example, that the root of all failed relationships is our failed relationship with God,) He may be genuinely well-intentioned -- most missionaries are, I suppose -- but it's hard to forgive him for setting himself up as an even-handed explicator of these two men's philosophies, making a show of carefully weighing one against the other on a variety of topics, when in fact -- like those notorious Soviet-bloc Olympic judges back in the days of the Cold War -- he is unfailingly biased toward his favorite (Lewis) and always has his finger on the scale.

The very terms Nicholi uses in presenting Freud's and Lewis's views are loaded ones: Freud -- whom Nicholi treats with condescension masquerading as sympathy -- is always admitting, acknowledging, confessing, conceding, realizing himself guilty of some inconsistency or self-contradiction, whereas Lewis -- who, as the younger man, always gets the last word -- is forever pointing out, noting, observing, explaining, and reminding us. (Lewis, whatever one thinks of his beliefs, wrote like an angel; I've enjoyed a number of his books, even if I find his theology preposterous. But here, quoted piecemeal by Nicholi and at other times paraphrased, Lewis comes off as disagreeably smug; and -- though it may sound paradoxical -- when Lewis writes about how he finally gave up the fight and surrendered himself to the Lord, his delight in his own self-abasement sounds positively creepy.)

Nicholi's modes of argument are no less annoying. In order to buttress his case, at least four times in the course of the book he cites a Gallup poll which found that an enormous majority of Americans are religious. (The last time I looked, a majority also believed in ghosts and ESP, and close to half believe in UFOs -- but so what?) Nicholi also resorts to the what's-in-it-for-me? argument: We're informed that Lewis's career blossomed when he threw off his foolish atheism and returned to God; he was happier than the frequently depressed Freud; he was less consumed with ambition; he had (this is a real stretch, from what I know of Lewis) a more satisfying sex life; with his rosy anticipation of an eternal afterlife, he didn't suffer, as Freud did, from a fear of death. (To which one might respond: Duh! If religion isn't about assuaging our fear of death, what good is it?) All these arguments speak to the practical benefits of being a believer: They're akin to the benefits of Prozac or of meditation or of joining a health club, but they don't tell us anything about the truth or foolishness of the belief itself -- the "Question of God" of the title. Because Lewis was genial and Freud could be quarrelsome (though Nicholi delights in taking Freud's lifelong modesty and self-criticism, as expressed in letters and memoirs, as the whole truth), does it follow that what Lewis believed was true and that Freud was mistaken? Always eager to point out flaws in Freud's personality, Nicholi seems to hold him vaguely responsible for the failure of Freud's friendship with his onetime disciple Jung, but he never mentions Jung's jealousy or his accommodation, when it suited him, to the Nazis. Finally -- and perhaps I shouldn't hold this against him, but I find this sort of "holy" style a turnoff -- Nicholi is so devout that he'll capitalize not just He and His in relation to God and Jesus, but other words as well, e.g. "the Object of his faith." It's clear, from such choices, that Nicholi is a pious man, even if, like his hero, C. S. Lewis, his piety sometimes looks a lot like smugness. ... Read more

Book Description

A New York Times bestseller in hardcover, this is the mosthighly regarded biography of Freud ever written. To read this book is toenter the world of Sigmund Freud as never before: his family, his city,his professional struggles, his long fruitful and embattled life. Drawingon a vast store of unpublished documents, including hundreds of hithertounknown or inaccessible letters, Peter Gay deals frankly with thecontroversies that have long swirled around Freud's impassionedfriendships, his love life, and his theoretical innovations which, asFreud himself put it, agitated the sleep of mankind. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Very complete biography
This biography on Sigmund Freud proves to be a total integration of all aspects of Freud's life. Everything from his psycho-analysis works to his family life, Jewish background to the political climate that surrounded his life were all integrated in this book in one massive volume. The book proves to be well written and relatively objective in outlook as the author maintain an even kneel toward his subject. I found the book to be quite informative and full of interesting insights on Freud's motives and actions.

It seem to the author that Freud's life really didn't start until he published his famous book, Interpretation of Dreams. Roughly a hundred pages covered his life prior to that and rest of 550 pages covered his life after that. There is another 150 pages of source materials and index just to let you know how thick this book can be. (Hardback)

It should be warned that due to an overwhelming amount of information provided in this book, most of the first time readers into Freud's life would probably suffer from information overload. Many of the technical terms used in Freud's work were not meant for casual readers. This biography is quite complex in nature and content. I would recommend reading couple of shorter and simpler biographies on Freud before moving up to this book. If not, you will just slog through this book like being stuck in a giant swamp of information.

Excellent writing
Peter Gay has given us yet another intelligent and stimulating work. The book was highly praised in a review and although I would have never thought it possible, the writing transported one back to the Europe of the early 20th century. In many aspects Freud was a typical bourgeois Jew - intellectual, deeply opinionated, haughty, wealthy, well-mannered and hard-working.

His group-breaking advances are explained in detail as well as his ideas on several modern practices he patented - therapy, the id, ego and superego, guilt, eroticism. It was the latter on which he rested his claim for in his exploration of sexuality he thinks he has discovered the core of each of us. We are, he states, sexual creatures and all our decisions and thought processes are geared around that fact.

The triune history - Freud's, psychotherapy, Europe - combine to form a dazzling work in which the author shows a real empathy for his subject. One of the best around.

Fine intro to the man who REALLY "gave birth to the 20th C."
Gay writes a biography that is carefully aware of its own limitations (Freud had this nasty habit of periodically burning all his notes and papers) and equally careful to be sympathetic to the man without idolizing him. This is probably the condensation of Freud's life and work that best balances the sheer volume and importance of it against the need for (relative) brevity.

Fan Fodder
I like to read good biographies of the most influential and interesting people of Western history( previous two biographies read were Desmond & Moore's great biography of Darwin, and Solomon's fine Mozart). I had never read a Freud biography and considered this book as a starting point. Since I bought the book with the hopes of reading a reasonably straightforward, unbiased biography of someone who has undoubtedly greatly influenced twentieth century thought, I found myself very disappointed. This 'biography' is

simply a fan book written by a Freud fan. From the very first chapter and throughout the book, Freud is admired and praised as
if the book had been written by Freud's doting mother instead of
an academic writer. In fact, Gay implies throughout that Freud's
"heroic" character had only one serious flaw-- that being self-criticism(!)-- and that anything questionable in Freud's character
was justified by his achievement and reknown in the development of psychoanalysis. Fine for avid Freudian types, but I suggest to anyone who is not a Freud cheerleader to avoid the rah-rah-rah
of this long fan letter.

Gay's life of Freud
This is an excellent short introduction - yes, short - to the life and work of Sigmund Freud. In recent years, Freud has been subject to endless ridicule and reassessment, but there is no doubt that his mind created a intellectual whirlwind that we are still living within. Think of our age's obsession with sex and you gain a glimmer of the impact of this man, who looked beneath the polite surface to the dark underpinnings. It is fascinating to read the life of the man who changed we think about ourselves forever.

In particular, I admired his scrupulous work habits and his intensity at task. Gay has written a daunting and impressive biography. I would have liked more information about the imapct of his ideas and the way they are received today, but then again that may have filled another book. Apart from that, I cannot fault the research that went into this book and the style with which it is written. ... Read more

Book Description

Available here for the first time in English, this eyewitness account by one of Freud’s earliest students has been rediscovered for twenty-first century readers. Isidor Sadger’s recollections provide a unique window into the early days of the psychoanalytic movement—the internecine and ideological conflicts of Freud’s disciples. They also illuminate Freud’s own struggles: his delight in wit, his attitudes toward Judaism, and his strong opinions concerning lay, non-medical analysts.

As a student, Sadger attended Freud’s lectures from 1895 through 1904. Two years later Freud nominated Sadger to his Wednesday Psychological Society (later called the Viennese Psychoanalytic Society).Sadger, however, was not part of Freud’s inner circle, but more a participant observer of the early years of the psychoanalytic movement and of Freud as teacher, therapist, and clinician.

Sadger was considered one of the most devoted followers of Freud and hoped to become one of Freud’s "favorite sons."At the First Psychoanalytic Congress held in Salzburg in 1908, Sadger was chosen to be one of the principal speakers along with Freud, Jones, Adler, Jung, Prince, Riklin, Abraham, and Stekel, an honor that bespeaks Sadger’s early role in the movement.But Freud and many of his disciples were also openly critical of Sadger’s work, calling it at various times overly simplistic, unimaginative, reductionist, orthodox, and rigid.

In 1930 Sadger published his memoir, Sigmund Freud: Persönliche Erinnerungen.With the rise of Nazism and World War II, the book became lost to the world of psychoanalytic history.Recently, Alan Dundes learned of its existence and mounted a search that led him around the world to one of the few extant copies—in a research library in Japan. The result of his fascinating quest is Recollecting Freud, a long-lost personal account that provides invaluable insights into Freud and his social, cultural, and intellectual context. ... Read more

Book Description

This intellectual biography of Freud presents a fresh and thorough analysis of the whole body of his writings.Each of these is studied in its context, and their chronology is shown to be of great importance. The author demonstrates how Freud's exploratory and sometimes hesitant efforts to explain all that he discovered of mental abnormality are to be properly understood only in light of his quest for a general theory of the mind. This reissue contains a new Preface by Professor Wollheim that takes account of recent critical work on Freud. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Freud's Analytic System of the Mind
Richard Wollheim has made a contribution to the way one can come to understand the life and writings of Sigmund Freud that may go on for years as being unsurpassed. The preface alone is worth the price of the book. It is true that Wollheim does not address the issues Bettleheim does in _Freud and Man's Soul_. Rather, he remains specific to his project, which appears to address solely Freud's views, their emergence, development, alterations, and even their incompleteness in certain cases, as comprising a system of the mind.

Wollheim reinforces the stronger feeling, that it is in the original writings that kernals of brilliance and understanding are to be found. He applauds the Standard Edition. The bibilography he provides, for the most part, appears to circumscribe the issues more commonly sought for by readers of Freud who relish in, and ascribe, mis-interpretations and construals that more or less support the avoidance of the very issues Freud was most concerned with.

In perhaps a way that is his most valuable contribution, Wollheim reveals the personality and disposition of Freud in a manner that is totally convincing: that Freud's works are for the most part either ignored, falsely attacked, or misunderstood. Further, Wollheim shows that throughout Freud's lifeÑmore particularly demonstrated by the way he continued his life until its endÑof how his life is a paradigmatic demonstration of consistently rewarding labor and of irrefutable courage.

Wollheim causes one to appreciate Freud even further, in that while being almost continually challenged, ignored, and even despised, Freud fought to reveal for us the hidden pathways of the mind. It is in virture of this effort and bequeathal, that being Freud's corpus, his literary genius, a quest for a knowledge of the truth, and his intention to be able to skillfully lead and guide us through our defenses and our darkened fears, that we are able to gain and accept a deeper understanding of ourselves and of others. It is this that consists of Freud's heroic legacy. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A fascinating look at Freud's early career.
Almost one hundred years ago to the month (November 1899), Freud published his landmark book, "The Interpretation of Dreams," in German. The world hasn't been the same since then. No matter what you think of him (many who dislike Freud base their views on what others have said about him or done with his theories), he changed the concept of what it means to be a human being. This long essay (it runs 95 pages with index) came out in 1925, when he was at the height of his fame. It recounts the development of his career and his theories of sexual development. As such it provides an overview of the subjects for which he became famous. It isn't a personal book, concentrating on professional rather than personal associations. I would call it an intellectual memoir--but whatever you call it, it is well worth reading. ... Read more

Book Description

"If psychoanalysis is the return of repressed antiquity, distorted to be sure by modern desire, yet still bearing the telltale traces of the ancient archive, then would not our growing distance from the archive of antiquity also imply that we are in the process of losing our grip on psychoanalysis itself, as Freud conceived it?"—from Chapter 1

As he developed his striking new science of the mind, Sigmund Freud had frequent recourse to ancient culture and the historical disciplines that draw on it. A Compulsion for Antiquity fully explores how Freud appropriated figures and themes from classical mythology and how the theory and practice of psychoanalysis paralleled contemporary developments in historiography, archaeology, philology, and the history of religions. Drawing extensively from Freud’s private correspondence and other notes and documents, Richard H. Armstrong touches on Freud’s indebtedness to Sophocles and the Oedipus complex, his interest in Moses and the Jewish religion, and his travels to Athens and Rome.

Armstrong shows how Freud turned to the ancient world to deal with the challenges posed by his own scientific ambitions and how these lessons influenced the way he handled psychic "evidence" and formulated the universal application of what were initially isolated clinical truths. Freud’s narrative reconstructions of the past also related to his sense of Jewishness, linking the historical trajectory of psychoanalysis with contemporary central European Jewish culture. Ranging across the breadth of Freud’s work, A Compulsion for Antiquity offers fresh insights into the roots of psychoanalysis and fin de siècle European culture, and makes an important contribution to the burgeoning discipline of mnemohistory. ... Read more

Book Description

A lively guide to the life and work of the father of psychoanalysis

From Anna O. to Zionism, this uniquely accessible A-to-Z reference presents a comprehensive overview of Freud’s ideas, family, colleagues, patients, writings, and legacy. Mixing humor, passion, and knowledge, each of the more than 100 fascinating entries offers a revealing look at some aspect of Freud’s world, be it a description of his famed pillowed office at Berggasse 19 or an account of his intense feud with former student Carl Jung.

Sharon Heller, PhD (Boynton Beach, FL), is the author of three popular psychology books. ... Read more

Book Description

"My mother was the source of my brains and my father the mother of kindness," said Sandor Rado, a Hungarian analyst whom Freud first embraced but later vilified. In Heresy: Sandor Rado and the Psychoanalytic Movement, Paul Roazen and Bluma Swerdloff use interviews with Rado and his family to bring to life one of Freud's foremost followers, who later founded his own institute and psychodynamic orientation, one that focused on motivation rather than instinct. Based on interviews sponsored by the Columbia University Oral History Project, and including Freud's letters to Rado, this is a personal account of Rado and the life events that shaped him and his theories. Rado's life in late nineteenth-century Hungary, the enduring influence of his mother, his meetings with Freud (who made three slips of the tongue during their first encounter), his analysis with Karl Abraham, his affair with Helene Deutsch (she called it a "companionship of suffering"), and Rank and Ferenczi's downfalls are vividly depicted. Rado's radical departure from Freudian theories of femininity, a reformulation daringly in keeping with today's gender debates, is also included. Rado freed himself from phallocentrism, abandoning the notions of universal castration fear and penis envy. He contended that men and woman are different, which does not mean that woman are inferior. He saw women as having a greater emotional capacity based on their biological role as child bearers and nurturers.

In 1963, as further evidence of his prescience, Rado prophesied the current crisis in psychotherapy, noting that "the old-fashioned therapeutic practice will disappear for lack of money." He anticipated that the influence of biochemical genetics was going to be "so enormous that it would be bootless to try to outline it." Dr. Swerdloff uses Rado's predictions and an analysis of the present debate to demonstrate the need to steer psychoanalysis toward a more scientific course. Sandor Rado's original ideas and uncanny foresight are given their rightful place in this delightfully intimate book that will acquaint readers with this brilliant but often unrecognized founding psychoanalyst. ... Read more

Book Description

In the Freud Archives is Janet Malcolm’s celebrated account of the falling-out of two unlikely friends: K. R. Eissler, the formidable director of the secretive Freud Archives, and Jeffrey Moussaief Masson, a 42-year-old wunderkind trained in Sanskrit and psychoanalysis who was, briefly, Eissler’s designated successor. This deeply original work of nonfiction is written with the subtlety and insight of a Henry James novel. "From beginning to end it has the coolly accomplished excitement of a thriller." — The Sunday Times (London) ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Janet Malcolm at her best
Malcolm's masterly study of the uproar over Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson's fight with the trustees of the Freud Archives has been out of print for years, despite the famous controversy (and multiple libel suits) the book itself occasioned upon its publication. It has been deservedly been brought back into print into this nifty little edition by the NYRB Press, featuring on its cover one of Malcolm's own fascinating collage pieces. Like all of Janet Malcolm's later work, it centers around fierce intellectual debates concerning the ownership and representation of ideas, and the enormous cruelties academics and writers are willing to wage upon one another in the name of "truth." Also, like all her subsequent work, IN THE FREUD ARCHIVES centers upon the inherent problems of bias in narrative, and how aggrieved individuals often betray themselves (as in psychoanalysis) when they most want to win an audience's confidence. Although Masson sued Malcolm (ultimately unsuccessfully) for his portrayal in this study, he might even be thankful that she has immortalized him (more than his own writings ever may) as a fantastic and mercurial character.

Journalism becomes almost literature
Wow. Generally I don't bother to review titles that have already been lauded or panned, but I enjoyed this recently beyond all measure. Originally a series of articles in the New Yorker, I came upon it in book form, strikingly after being dissapointed in a book I read by Masson, one of the protagonists in this small morality tale. Jeffrey ends up being eviscerated by his own words as this small fable of misplaced trust and ego unfolds. Malcolm is the sly and small narrator that undoes him by lending an ear, and in the meantime the Freud legacy is both exposed and intelligently defended. What makes this book 5 instead of 4 stars are the slight brilliant insights of Malcolm herself that occasionally highlight the factual action. The fact that this is journalism that provides wisdom is what brings it up to literatures doorstep. Brilliant.

Too good to be called journalism
Janet Malcolm's study of the controversy over the Freud Archives is one of the finest pieces of non-fiction of the last twenty years. It deals with the appointment of Jeffrey Masson as head of the Freud Archives, his subsequent discovery and publication of much of Freud's correspondence, and his claims that Freud's abandonment of the "seduction theory" invalidates the entire discipline of psychoanalysis - and the bomb this planted beneath the reputation of Freud and the field he pioneered.

The story has been knocking about ever since. Briefly, Freud had at first believed his patients' claims that they had been sexually abused in childhood. This is the "seduction theory" of neurosis - that neuroses derive from actual physical abuse. After a while, as these claims were made by more and more patients, he (rightly or wrongly) came to believe that they couldn't all be true, and developed the theory of the Oedipus complex - that we are all more or less neurotic, as a result of unavoidable psychological events that are part of everyone's early childhood. Psychoanalysis at once became immeasurably more complex, less ambitious and more speculative.

When Jeffrey Masson, a former Sanskrit scholar who had trained as an analyst but whose instincts were those of a scholar, came across the story of how Freud had changed his mind, he immediately started to claim that this was pretty much the end of psychoanalysis. Whether it is or not is up for the reader to decide. What's most riveting about this book is Masson himself.

I don't want to say anything outright derogatory about Masson, as he has a taste for litigation - he sued Malcolm about the book, and carried the case on for 11 years until he eventually lost. But he seems like the last person you'd want to involve in such a tricky practice as the healing of people's minds. Malcolm lets him speak for himself, and he comes across in her portrayal of him as a really awful person - smug, arrogant, remarkably incurious and with almost no capacity for considering the feelings of other people. Amazingly clever, to be sure; but how they ever let him train as an analyst is beyond me (he gave it up after hardly anyone referred him any patients.) He admits to Malcolm that he has a short attention span; one of the most shocking - and to me, rather appalling - statements he makes is when he forcefully denies Malcolm's remark that nothing is intrinsically interesting, that we invest things with interest. No, Masson insists, some things are objectively interesting and some are not, and psychoanalysis is one of the things that isn't. Such is his sense of responsibility for the damage he'd done.

After a while, Masson's ruthless lack of curiosity, his urge to deny and denigrate (he once considered writing a book about what was wrong with various societies in the world, but fortunately for us he abandoned the idea) makes him appear as a kind of smooth, plausible angel of death. And yet, his charm almost won Malcolm over - until he sued her. The man is obviously very intelligent. But what a way to use your gifts.

This should be in print!
I read this years ago when it originally appeared in The New Yorker. Though I don't usually reread things, I remembered being very impressed by it at the time and had also recently read Janet Malcolm's "The Journalist & the Murderer" which discussed "In the Freud Archives" a bit and tells a story of a similar ill-fated relationship between a narcissistic man and a second man who either manipulates or is manipulated by the other. "The Journalist..." looks into the practices of journalism, and "Freud Archives" looks into psychoanalysis, but both have to do with the process of extracting and interpreting information (which Malcolm herself is doing) and the human emotions (and lawsuits) that emerge in this process. "Freud Archives" has as least three striking central characters, one of whom (Masson) is perhaps the most memorable person I've ever encountered reading nonfiction. He's a brilliant man who, in Malcolm's telling of the story, has a mind that seeks to break down the elaborate structures others have devoted their life to building up. You can decide whether he's performing a service or deserves condemnation for this.

The book is beautifully written, full of lively monologues by Masson and others, and a quick read at 165 pages.

Perfection
It doesn't get better than this, kids ... Read more