Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Fight over Freud, 23 Sep 2008
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.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but not compelling, 13 Nov 2007
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.
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by Janet Malcolm
by Janet Malcolm
by Janet Malcolm
by J Malcolm
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