Freud, V. 3: Appraisals and Reappraisals

Volume 3 of the Freud: Appraisals and Reappraisals series continues in the tradition of its illustrious predecessors, presenting readers with the fruits of continuing scholarship into the life of Sigmund Freud, and the relationship of this life to the discovery and presentation of psychoanalytic theory.  In the fascinating essay that opens this volume, John Kerr shows Freud's death instinct of 1920 to be the denouement of Freud's continuing preoccupation with Jung and the theoretical revisions of the "Zurich School."  In the person and writings of Sabina Spielrein, Jung's little-known protege (and one-time lover) from Zurich, he finds an actual embodiment of the link between Freud's reaction to Jung and his subsequent introduction of the death instinct.  Having shown that Spielrein truly stands between Freud and Jung in important respects, Kerr goes on to argue that Freud's Beyond the Pleasure Principle cannot be dissociated from the theoretical, clinical, and political issues that bear the weight of the Freud-Jung relationship.  Peter Swales follows with his historical reconstruction of Freud's encounter with the "Katharina" of the Studies on Hysteria.  Having discovered the identity of this early "patient," Swales proceeds to offer a comprehensive account of her family's origins, circumstances, history, and the subsequent contact with Freud.  This account, the product of a decade of research, ultimately yields a panoramic view of the cultural, professional, and intellectual world of the early Freud.  Robert Holt's concluding essay on Freud's adolescent readings offers critical summaries of three of the major works that Freud read on his own as a gymnasium student in the early 1870s.  Holt then explores the probable impact of these works on Freud - which is to say, on a youth with Freud's intellectual endowment, philosophical leanings, and cultural background.  In his introductory essay, "Text, Context, and Freud," editor Paul Stepansky links the essays of Kerr, Swales, and Holt as complementary meditations on the relation between "text" and "context" in the history of ideas.  For Kerr, Swales, and Holt, he writes, "text poses questions that only context can address, though context, in its turn, implicates the analysis of other texts in which, in their turn, call forth yet other aspects of context.  The regress may appear infinite, but it is a reality of historical inquiry, and it is the charge of the historian of ideas to show that it need not be vicious."   

Table of Contents:
Editor's Introduction: Text, Context, and Freud, Stepansky  1. Beyond the Pleasure Principle and Back Again: Freud, Jung, and Sabina Spielrein, Kerr  2. Freud, Katharina, and the First "Wild Analysis," Swales  3. Freud's Adolescent Reading: Some Possible Effects on His Work, Holt

About the Author :
Paul E. Stepansky received his doctorate in European intellectual history from Yale University, where he was named the first Kanzer Foundation Fellow for Psychoanalytic Studies in the Humanities.  One of the foremost psychoanalytic editors in the country, he served as the Managing Director of Analytic Press until 2006.  He is the author of numerous books on Sigmund Freud as well as The Memoirs of Margaret S. Mahler. 

Review :
"The series provides a forum for responsible, scholarly inquiry and discussion. It is evident that Stepansky sets high standards in selecting all his contributors. . . . all their essays are consistently knowledgeable, make strong and cogent arguments, and ably present novel insights in readable form. And because they are provocative, they promise to continue to stir up healthy controversy." - Samuel Hoch, Psychoanalytic Quarterly