THE PSYCHOANALYTIC REVOLUTION: Sigmund Freud's Life and Achievement

THIS is a very readable translation from the French of the birth and development of psychoanalysis. Naturally Freud, Adler and Putnam, enter and leave the narrative with only a few staunch adherents such as Pfister and Jones remaining loyal to the basic tenets postulated by their teacher. The author succeeds in building up a lively pen portrait of Freud through his writings. The "Interpretation of Dreams" provides the key to many of the deductions made about the kind of man Freud was, as there is little or no information available about his childhood or early development. Freud saw to that, for he destroyed all his notes, letters and manuscripts when he was 29 years old. Marthe Robert traces Freud's career he was born at Freiberg in Moravia in 1856. He witnessed anti-Semitism as a child and experienced it as an adult. Books and learning were highly valued in his household, particularly the Bible. His knowledge of the Old Testament, his fascination with the character of Moses and his love of Archaeology all helped to shape his fuiture work. He qualified in 1880, spent two years in Bruicke's Physiology Department followed by three years in the General Hospital of Vienna. He then worked for nearly 5 months in Meynert's Psychiatric Clinic the only purely psychiatric experience he had apart from, a locum post at a private psychiatric establishment for wealthy patients. After this he went to the Salpetriere to see the work of Charcot. His work with Breuer, his prolonged correspondence with Fliess during the early days of his evolving metapsychology and his self analysis are all adequately described. This book portrays Freud as a man of opposites. Whilst firmly Atheistic in outlook, he was strongly influenced by Biblical characters and highly valued his early friendships with Jung, the son of a clergyman and with Pfister who was a Swiss pastor. His theories display this trend too. The tremendous drive to make a lasting mark on the thinking about the psychology of man never left him, even during the years of a long and painful physical illness which he bore with fortitude. Whether the reader is familiar with psychoanalytic concepts or not, this book is worthwhile reading both as a history of an epoch and of an important aspect of medicine. It is recommended for psychiatrists for whom a sense of historical perspective is essential. General practitioners may not see patients like "little Hans" or "the Wolf Man", but if they read the book they will be provided with a useful synopsis of the birth and growth of psychoanalysis, together with interesting glimpses of international figures in psychiatry at the turn of the century. J.G.G.