By Force of Fantasy: How We Make Our Lives

While many people--as well as early psychoanalytical theorists--discounted fantasies and daydreams as insignificant, such essential constructs help charge and organize our lives and even contribute to cultural formulation and change, argues clinical psychiatrist Person (Dreams of Love and Fateful Encounters). For this accessible, textured and thought-provoking study, she draws on patient anecdotes, interviews and research data. Fantasies assuage needs beyond those of sex or aggression, such as mastery, autonomy and the repair of trauma; Person probes their sources and contents. She also tracks fantasies that unfold and influence life choices, such as ``family romances,'' in which children dream of substitute parents. Other fantasies have broader effects, such as those transmitted from parents or the cultural scripts that help shape male and female identity. Perhaps most intriguing is Person's exploration of the use of borrowed fantasy--such as gay men's affection for iconic divas--and how creative fantasists such as Theodor Herzl transmuted their visions into world-changing actuality. Behavioral Science Book Service and Psychotherapy Book Club alternates. (Aug.)