In the Freud Archives (Paperback)

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Review
"In the mid-seventies, a young man named Jeffery Moussaieff Masson began to appear at psychoanalytic congresses and to draw a certain perplexed attention to himself." With that finely tuned opening line Malcolm (The Impossible Profession) begins this brief, shrewdly balanced, darkly amusing interview/profile of recent attacks on the Freudian establishment. The Masson case is, of course, now at least superficially well-known - thanks to the recent arrival of his Assault on Truth (p. 36). In the last pages here, in fact, Masson tells Malcolm (who must be an uncommonly un-threatening interviewer) about the book's impending publication: "Wait till it reaches the best-seller list, and watch how the analysts will crawl. . . . There's no possible refutation of this book. it's going to cause a revolution in psychoanalysis." But Masson's version of Freud's renunciation of the seduction theory - based in part on his access, as curator, to the Freud Archives - hasn't become a best-seller, has been widely refuted. And anyone who read these Malcolm pieces when they were published in The New Yorker might have predicted that outcome - because, while presenting the Freud traditionalists (e.g., eccentric, excitable Kurt Eissler) as defensive extremists, Malcolm's portrait of Masson is devastating: largely through his own words he emerges as a feverish jumble of vanity, self-destruction, childishness, and ruthlessness; implicitly, too, she points to the holes in his theories. Less well-known, and given less space here, is bizarre Peter Swales - a youngish, Welsh researcher into Freud's early life and career, obsessively trying to document his theories about Freud's love affair with Minna Bernays. As made clear in Malcolm's wonderfully economical reportage, Swales' manic quest led him into conflict with not only the orthodox Freudians but with rival-researcher Masson. ("Earlier, in April, Swales had written Masson a letter in which - for forty-five single-spaced typewritten pages - he enumerated the wrongs he felt he had suffered at Masson's hands. . . .") The upshot? Fascinating issues, operatic emotions, grandly captured personalities, the ironic interplay between the profound and the petty - plus the very real importance of those still-secret Archives: wise, understated journalism/entertainment that leaves you wanting to know much, much more. (Kirkus Reviews)

Product Description
This account of a scandal in the world of New York psychoanalysis features: K.R. Eissler, a psychoanalyst and head of the Sigmund Freud archives; Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, a scholar turned psychoanalyst and anti-Freudian; and Peter Swales, a former assistant to the Rolling Stones and self-taught Freud scholar. Masson, repeating history, sued Malcolm and her publishers. In an afterword written for this edition, Malcolm gives a concise history of the publicised, 11-million-dollar, 11-year lawsuit - which Masson lost in 1994 - and writes of the experience of becoming "another agent of Masson's chronic disappointment in the world."

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2 Reviews 5 star:  (1) 4 star:    (0) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   5.0 out of 5 stars Fight over Freud, 23 Sep 2008 By  Markus Gossas "Markus Gossas" (Stockholm, Sweden) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    This review is from: In the Freud Archives (Paperback) Very well written and captivating non-fiction story about the intrigues around the Sigmund Freud Archives. The character descriptions are interesting, and we are also given some insights into the history and concepts of psychoanalysis. This is done without the text becoming too theoretical. In the Freud Archives is not difficult to read. After reading the postscript I wondered a little about Janet Malcolms use of sources. She is not exactly kind towards Masson, and maybe she betrays him by putting into text words not intended to.I don't know, there was some controversy after the first publication. Anyway, the book is great. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but not compelling, 13 Nov 2007 By  Mrs. K. A. Wheatley "katywheatley" (Leicester, UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)       This review is from: In the Freud Archives (Paperback) I have previously read Janet Malcolm's remarkable book The Silent Woman, about her attempts to write a biography of Sylvia Plath. It was brilliant, and after having read an article about this book, I decided to give it a whirl. Although the subject matter is interesting, and Malcolm's writing is intelligent and thoughtful, there is something missing here. The book centres on the arguments of several psychoanalysts about the reputation of Sigmund Freud, and their ability to verify their arguments through the use of the extensive archives of his work. The problem is that the curator of the archives is excessively protective of Freud, and has refused to give permission for the work to be used on many occasions. The argument at the centre of the book revolves around the curator, who decides to give the management of the archives to an up and coming academic, Jeffrey Masson. Masson purports to be protective of the Freud name, but turns out to have his own agenda, and ends up upsetting everyone in the process of making a name for himself. The ensuing legal battles wind around the story of the archive and ultimately the issue of who is right about Freud, and his theories. The problem that I had with the book was that it was almost like dropping into a conversation ten minutes in. If you don't know the background, you struggle to fill yourself in as quickly as possible, so that you can keep up with the varying viewpoints offered, which can distract from the story. I felt at times that Malcolm herself lost the thread of the story, or at least which story she was pursuing. The book is short, and I felt didn't really do the subject justice, although the afterword, in which Malcolm updates the story to explain that she has spent the last ten years being unsuccessfully sued by Masson, and the toll it has taken on her, perhaps illuminates the issue of brevity and excuses it. In a book that deals extensively with law suits and litigation, one has to be careful what one says. Which, on the whole is a shame. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 2 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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