Freud in Exile: Psychoanalysis and Its Vicissitudes

Freud's exodus in 1938 from Nazi-occupied Austria to London signaled the transplanting of the psychoanalytic movement from Vienna to England and thence to the U.S. Based on a 1986 symposium, this suggestive volume presents 23 papers discussing how psychoanalysis has fared in its worldwide exile. According to one contributor, the Americanization of Freud's system has produced a severely distorted science unhinged from its philosophical moorings, while another paper views modern psychoanalysis as a benign social institution offering salvation in a secular world. Various scholars look at analysts' aspirations to professional medical status; how English disciple Ernest Jones exaggerated his missionary role; problems in translating Freud; and the influence of the German Romantics' notion of healing the soul on psychotherapy. Discussions of the feminist challenge to Freud and evolving theories of childhood round out a volume that makes a notable contribution to ongoing debate. (August)