Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision: Darkness in the Midst of Vision: Darkness in the Midst of Vision - Softcover

Breger, Louis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0471078581 ISBN 13: 9780471078586

Publisher: Wiley, 2001

Synopsis

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 theo

About this title

Review:

"Psychoanalysis is a clumsy tool, not the scalpel Freud envisioned. In this masterly biography and cultural history, psychologist and psychoanalyst Breger (emeritus, California Institute of Technology) explains why. Previous Freud biographers Ernest Jones, Paul Roazen, Ronald Clark, and Peter Gay lack his combined clinical acumen and objectivity. Breger interprets carefully, guiding the reader through an oft–told story that has never been made so human. ′Sigi,′ though his mother′s favorite, was emotionally starved as a youngster and could not deal with this pain in his creatively evasive self–analysis. His professional frustrations were not caused by Viennese conservatism, but by his own way of thinking, working, and treating people. Breger movingly portrays the Great War, Freud′s initial enthusiasm for it, his inability to grasp the nature of real trauma, and the resulting death instinct theory. Essential for all public and academic libraries, this landmark work conveys a new sense of one of the great, flawed men and movements of the last century."(Library Journal, Starred Review)

"Persuasive... the best part of Breger′s book –– his revisiting of the early authoritarian days of psychoanalysis –– is a foray into the past that matters a great deal. An important contribution" (The New York Times Book Review, December 17th, 2000)

"Breger brings out all the contradictions and ends up with a fascinating and well–balanced book." (Focus, February 2001)

"...a perceptive, measured account of Freud′s work..." (Irish Times, 9th December 2000)

"Breger′s sane and lucid study must henceforth count among the indispensable books on Freud." (Times Literary Supplement, 27th October 2000)

"This is an absorbing book..." (Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, Vol.43, No.4 2002)

"Breger brings out all the contradictions and ends up with a fascinating and well–balanced book." (Focus, February 2001)

"...a perceptive, measured account of Freud′s work..." (Irish Times, 9th December 2000)

"Breger′s sane and lucid study must henceforth count among the indispensable books on Freud." (Times Literary Supplement, 27th October 2000)

"This is an absorbing book..." (Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, Vol.43, No.4 2002)

From the Back Cover:

"Finally, the Freud biography we have long been waiting for."-Sophie Freud, Freud's granddaughter and Professor Emeritus of Social Work, Simmons College

More Praise for Freud: Darkness in the midst of Vision

"Rich and readable . . . a thoughtfully complex account of a great but flawed man. . . absolutely fascinating."-Judith Viorst, author, Necessary Losses and Imperfect Control

"A foray into the past that matters a great deal."-The New York Times Book Review

"Masterly . . . this landmark work conveys a new sense of one of the great flawed men and movements of the last century."-Library Journal (starred review)

"Groundbreaking . . . Freudian analysis (literally) at its best."-Booklist

"Perceptive . . . Breger's sane and lucid study must henceforth count among the indispensable books on Freud."-Times Literary Supplement

"Highly readable . . . Breger maintains a judiciously skeptical distance from Freud and Freud's own self-mythologizing, yet never loses sympathy for the man himself."-J. M. Coetzee, winner of the Booker Prize

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0471078581
• ISBN 13: 9780471078586
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 484