Freud, V.1

Book excerpt: A response to the veritable renaissance in Freud studies, Freud: Appraisals and Reappraisals presents the readers with the fruits of recent scholarship on Freud, the man and scientist, and the origins and development of the psychoanalytic movement spawned by his work. The premier volume of this series offers three major essays embodying different tributaries of contemporary Freud research. Peter Swales, drawing on extensive archival research, reveals the identity and explores the life and times of the woman Freud terms his first "teacher," but presented to his readers only as the "Frau Caecilie M" of the Studies on Hysteria. Barry Silverstein brings together complementary strands of textual analysis and psychobiographical reconstruction in his provocative reconsideration of the circumstances surrounding Freud's lost papers on metapsychology. Finally, Edwin Wallace's integrative review of Freud's scattered remarks on ethics and morality, combined with his appraisal of Freud's personal ethics, yield a measured and scholarly account of Freud as "ethicist." Briefer essays on Freud and the oral tradition (Patrick Mahony), Freud's psychology of religion (Paul Stepansky), and recent assessments of Freud's character (John Gedo) round out a volume that is destined for a place of distinction in the secondary literature on Freud. Collectively, these essays represent a most auspicious debut for the new series; they admirably bear out Paul Stepansky's intent of "presenting readers with original articles that embody high scholarship an a thought-provoking and imaginative use of the fruits of this scholarship."