SIGMUND FREUD

In the Twentieth Century Library series, one of the country's most famous psychoanalysts has written a recapitulation of the major facts of Freud's professional career, the public's reaction to and assimilation of his theories, and has given a sound though necessarily brief statement of Freud's major contributions. Though his writing is lucid and unhampered by jargon, Dr. Zilboorg has failed to organise his material into well defined sections. By far the most interesting part is on 20th century writers of genius, among them Joyce and Mann, where Zilboorg makes some interesting points on the degree of influence that Freud did-or did not-exert on these writers. He is very hostile to schools of analysis that have departed from the main line of orthodox practice, and one feels that at times he is almost arbitrary in accepting and stopping at Freudian theory. Freud himself is viewed, without heroworship, as an impersonal, publicity-shy figure...A certain amount of prior knowledge of the subject on the part of the reader is assumed, and as a study of a man of genius in relation to his era, this succeeds well.