Freud (Magill Book Reviews)
At a glance:
- Author: Peter Gay
- First Published: 1988
- Type of Work: Biography
- Genres: Nonfiction, Biography
- Subjects: Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, Europe or Europeans, 1910’s, 1920’s, 1930’s, Mental illness, Psychoanalysis or psychoanalysts, Vienna, Neuroses, 1900’s
- Locales: London, England, Vienna, Austria
Although the work of Sigmund Freud has always been clouded by controversy, not even his ideological enemies can deny the magnitude of his influence. More than anyone of his time, he was responsible for bringing nineteenth century men and women kicking and screaming into the modern world. Consequently, whereas this engrossing new biography reveals much about the personal life of the man, the story of Freud as Gay tells it is truly the story of his work. From his early studies of neurosis to his final thoughts on religion and culture, Freud was a work-driven man, convinced of the importance of his ideas and dominated by his need to be immortalized by them.
What Gay, trained both in cultural history and in psychoanalysis, has accomplished here is the considerable feat of placing Freud not only firmly within the context of his time but also authoritatively within the context of his ideas. Thus, although this is certainly not an oversimplified popularization of psychoanalysis, for one relatively unfamiliar with Freud’s central ideas it is an intelligent and lucid introduction.
Gay’s biography is an extremely readable and intensely engrossing study of one of the most complex and powerful minds of the modern world. It is based on years of research and documented by a hundred pages of notes, but the scaffolding never gets in the way. Instead, the man and the mind of the man are dynamically re-created. Whether an adherent or an enemy of the ideas of Freud, one cannot be unaffected by this book; the ideas are too powerful, and the book is too true.
Sources for Further Study
Chicago Tribune. April 10, 1988, XIV, p. 1.
Kirkus Reviews. LVI, February 1, 1988, p. 177.
Los Angeles Times Book Review. XCIII, May 8, 1988, p. 1.
Nature. CCCXXXIII, May 19, 1988, p. 217.
The New York Times Book Review. XCIII, April 24, 1988, p. 3.
Newsweek. CXI, May 2, 1988, p. 71.
Psychology Today. XXII, July, 1988, p. 68.
Publishers Weekly. CCXXXIII, March 4, 1988, p. 91.
Time. CXXXI, April 18, 1988, p. 85.
The Times Literary Supplement. May 20, 1988, p. 547.
