IN THE FLOYD ARCHIVES: A Psycho-Bestiary

Remember when dogs were not allowed on the furniture? Well, here a near-menagerie ends up on the couch with hilarious results that also lead to some sharp insights into human behavior. Part critical gloss on actual Freudian case histories, part postmodern humor and partly a very funny and silly series of cartoon strips (drawn by the author) of a week by week psychoanalysis of multiple characters, the book ends up as an oddly moving graphic account of the nature of human obsession, fear, longing, rage and terror. Mr. Bunnyman comes to Dr. Floyd because he is being chased by a wolf. The strictly Freudian doc understands that this is a paranoid fantasy, but has no problem devoting a separate 50 minutes to the Wolf, because the Wolfman has an alter ego, Lambskin, who wants attention as well. Before you know it, the obsessive-compulsive Ratma'am also joins the zoological roster of clients. Boxer supplies extensive footnotes from and about Freud's work to explicate her ideas, but anyone familiar with basic psychoanalytic theory will have already spotted Little Hans, the Wolf Man, Dora and the Rat Man. Boxer's conceit is both audacious and clever, and always transcends the sophomoric giddiness it exudes at first glance. She poignantly conveys Wolf Man's anxiety about his father's relationship to him when he is dressed in/as Lambskin, even as she animates Freud's castration theory. Boxer's knowledge of Freudian thought, as well as her charming and quirkily resonant images and ideas makes this an idiosyncratic book that could easily become a cult classic and a useful teaching tool. (Aug.)