It is 1938 and Sigmund Freud, suffering from the debilitating effects of cancer, has been permitted by the Nazis to leave Vienna. He seeks refuge in England, taking up residence in the house in Hampstead in which he will die only fifteen months later. But his last months are made vivid by the arrival of a stranger, who comes and goes according to Freud’s state of health. Who is the mysterious visitor and why has he come to tell the famed proponent of the Oedipus complex his strange story? Set partly in pre-war London and partly in ancient Greece, WHERE THREE ROADS MEETS is as brilliantly compelling as it is moving. Former psychoanalyst and acclaimed novelist Salley Vickers revisits a crime committed long ago which still has disturbing reverberations for us all.
Where Three Roads Meet (Canongate Myths)
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'Ingenious...her vision of Hellenic Greece is earthy and alive.' -- Independent on Sunday
Simply and strongly done, laying bare many of our mortal anxieties -- The Times
The novel is a bright, hard, fine-cut gem -- The Sunday Times
This is a book to dwell on, to ponder, and delight in -- Scotsman
Vickers is comically irreverent about her own profession and deft at teasing out the slippery truths of Oedipus's tale. -- Observer
Vickers's retelling of Freud and Tiresias's exchanges is witty and revealing -- Sunday Times
Simply and strongly done, laying bare many of our mortal anxieties -- The Times
The novel is a bright, hard, fine-cut gem -- The Sunday Times
This is a book to dwell on, to ponder, and delight in -- Scotsman
Vickers is comically irreverent about her own profession and deft at teasing out the slippery truths of Oedipus's tale. -- Observer
Vickers's retelling of Freud and Tiresias's exchanges is witty and revealing -- Sunday Times
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Revisit a crime committed long ago which has disturbing reverberations for us all . . .
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
63 of 65 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
WHERE THREE ROADS MEET is a retelling of the Oedipus myth, famous within the world of literaure but also psychology and psychanalysis, thanks to Sigmund Freud who developed the 'Oedipus Complex' to explain early infantile sexuality.
Vickers takes the figure of Freud in his last years, when he is suffering from cancer, as one of the characters within this retelling. Freud is visited by a mysterious man who is blind and comes to him to recount a story about Oedipus. This mysterious visitor claims that he thinks Freud has missed something in his own Oedipus theory, and so he tells the story in order to help the famed psychoanalyst 'see' another point. For Vickers' retelling, the important point about the story is that Oedipus pushed and pushed for the knowledge that would be his downfall, despite being warned that there really are some things that should remain unsaid:
'"Events must be endured if they are to disclose their meaning."
"Or unfold untold meanings? And no one, even you, Doctor, has ever quite accounted for humankind's resistance to letting well alone."' (p173).
What makes this novel truely memorable is that Vickers plays around with language and words - as Freud and his visitor discuss the Oedipus story as well as Freud himself, they muse on the origins of words and how that may relate to the story they are discussing. This results in the book staying with you long after you have finished reading its lines. As any good psychoanalyst should, Vickers is able to make you stop and think and relfect on what has just been said, slowly showing you alternative perspectives or issues to consider.
This is a fantastic read - highly recommneded.
Vickers takes the figure of Freud in his last years, when he is suffering from cancer, as one of the characters within this retelling. Freud is visited by a mysterious man who is blind and comes to him to recount a story about Oedipus. This mysterious visitor claims that he thinks Freud has missed something in his own Oedipus theory, and so he tells the story in order to help the famed psychoanalyst 'see' another point. For Vickers' retelling, the important point about the story is that Oedipus pushed and pushed for the knowledge that would be his downfall, despite being warned that there really are some things that should remain unsaid:
'"Events must be endured if they are to disclose their meaning."
"Or unfold untold meanings? And no one, even you, Doctor, has ever quite accounted for humankind's resistance to letting well alone."' (p173).
What makes this novel truely memorable is that Vickers plays around with language and words - as Freud and his visitor discuss the Oedipus story as well as Freud himself, they muse on the origins of words and how that may relate to the story they are discussing. This results in the book staying with you long after you have finished reading its lines. As any good psychoanalyst should, Vickers is able to make you stop and think and relfect on what has just been said, slowly showing you alternative perspectives or issues to consider.
This is a fantastic read - highly recommneded.
39 of 41 people found the following review helpful
By M. J. Rigby
Format:Hardcover
I heard Ms Vickers on Start the Week and rushed out and bought this. I read a review which said it lacked emotion. Don't believe it. My guess is the reviewer didn't have time to read and absorb this book properly which, as all Vickers fans know, is essential where she is concerned. In an interview she claimed to be 'lazy'. My guess is this is extreme modesty. She's a deep thinker and a tough one, and as with her writing understates her own worth. This book crackles with emotional intelligence and her take on the Oedipus myth is highly original. Her main thesis is that human beings don't know what they think they know but do know what they think they don't know - and that this is an element in the myth which Freud recognised, but passed over in his eagerness to pursue his new theory of infantile sexuality. Having Tiresias, the blind seer, come to tell Freud what really happened as he is dying is a brilliant conception and as always with Vickers it is done with a straight forwardness which belies its bold originality. I especially liked her idea that Jocasta (whom she does wonderfully well) knew she was sleeping with her own son - and that she sought to do away with him the first place out of a fear of losing him later. This is a profoundly shocking idea but one that has a clear ring of truth. And the motif of the three roads is also brilliantly handled. I suspect Freud would have enjoyed Vickers take on his own life and work. A real 'novel' - ie truly original.
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful
By Jane-Anne Shaw, MA
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
'Where Three Roads Meet' is a brilliant literary interpretation of the Oedipus myth, with as many layers as the proverbial onion, - haunting, subtly humorous, occasionally shocking in its surgically-precise skill. No one but Salley Vickers could have written with such psycho-analytic insight and yet retained the multiple mythopoeic threads that reach back to the Ancient Greeks' intuitive knowledge and understanding of both man's temporal existence and his interaction with, and conflict with, the 'divine'.
As with Vickers' previous novels, the story remains with you long after the last page has been read.
As with Vickers' previous novels, the story remains with you long after the last page has been read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Oedipus and Freud
This is another book in the canongate myth series, this one is a adaptation of the oedipus myth told to Freud during his last days by Tiresias. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Susan Rose
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fabulous book full of wit and wisdom - it may just change your...
I was recommended this book after studying Sophocles' 'Oedipus Tyrannos', and I'm heartily glad I took up the recommendation. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Meerkat
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed
Not as good as other books by the author. This was a retelling of the Oedipus myth, by Oedipus himself to Freud. Quite clever but not very engaging.
Published 19 months ago by KAW
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Interesting & Compelling Retelling of a Classic Myth
`Where Three Roads Meet' is one of the Canongate Myth series a series in which modern authors take classic myths from around the world and retell them in their own way. Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2010 by Simon Savidge Reads
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not for someone who enjoys an easy read
Not as I expected it to be when I read the early part of the book before purchasing. It starts very slowly and I found the style challenging and hard to get in to. Read more
Published on 12 Sep 2009 by D. Perfect
5.0 out of 5 stars
More engrossing than it sounds
This book was recommended by a friend - I am so pleased that I took her advice. I remember the original reviews being less than enthusiastic and despite enjoying Salley Vickers'... Read more
Published on 10 Jun 2009 by Sally G
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very readable
I love Sally Vickers, especially the beautiful Miss Garnet's Angel. I bought this little book because I wanted to make my order up to the price needed for free super saver postage... Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2008 by Mrs. S. R. Wray
1.0 out of 5 stars
Dull
This is a dull book. It is about an imagined set of conversations between a dying Sigmund Freud and an Ancient Greek about Oedipus. Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2008 by William
5.0 out of 5 stars
Made me see ancient story in a new light
I had this for Christmas and read it in one sitting. Everyone believes they know the myth of Oedipus - but apart from the fact that the poor guy bumped off his dad and made it... Read more
Published on 26 Dec 2007 by E. Ahern
5.0 out of 5 stars
a zen masterpeiece
This elegant allusive stylish account of the meeting between the dying Sigmund Freud and the prophet Teiresias is simply the best thing Salley Vickers has done. Read more
Published on 28 Nov 2007 by D. Richards
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