Article Preview
A History of Psychoanalysis in America, by Clarence P. Oberndorf
- Abstract
Contemporary psychoanalytic prose is a wasteland in which the parched reader falls on quotations from Freud as he would on ice-cold Coca-Cola in the middle of the Sahara. Hundreds of books on psychoanalysis repeat each other endlessly, but seldom offer any new ideas. On the surface, A History of Psychoanalysis in America is just another seminarish retelling of the same old story. But it would be a mistake to stop reading, because Dr. Oberndorf never hesitates to call a spade a spade. An “orthodox” Freudian who has little use for orthodoxy because he thinks people are more important than theories, Dr. Oberndorf is looked upon as something of a gadfly by his more metaphysically oriented colleagues. His book is the soul-searching of a man examining his way of life. Psychoanalysis has been his way of life and no one in America can examine it with more authority—if Robert A. Taft was Mr. Republican, Dr. Clarence P. Oberndorf is Mr. Psychoanalysis.
About the Author
This article is available for purchase to subscribers and for individual purchase
Subscriber Sign In
Not A Subscriber?
