Freud: From Youthful Dream to Mid-Life Crisis - Hardcover

..".extraordinarily impressive....Rather than 'psychoanalyze' Freud, Newton applies a sophisticated contemporary model for understanding personality continuity and change in the adult years to the founder of psychoanalysis himself. The result is a remarkable resonance between the theory and Freud's life." --Dan P. McAdams, Journal of Adult Development ..".a book of great importance. In this volume Newton offers a penetrating reexamination of the origins of psychoanalysis as it took shape in the course of a series of adult developmental periods and transitions between periods of Freud's life. Newton's 'theory of lives' approach to biography provides an important lens through which to explore the data emerging from Freud's correspondences, a good deal of which has only recently become available for study. Thought-provoking critiques of the conventional wisdom regarding the meaning of a number of significant turning points in Freud's life are offered. In addition Newton presents convincing discussions of the relationship of these developmental 'crises' to Freud's major contributions to psychoanalysis. Newton's very fine biography of Freud represents a major new step in our understanding of the origins of psychoanalysis." --Thomas H. Ogden, M.D., Supervising and Training Analyst, Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California "Peter Newton's excellent intellectual biography of Freud's early-to-middle years captures the dramatic movement of a life, and the gradually deepening illumination of character that one ordinarily might look for in a novel. These qualities make his study of Freud sympathetic, original, and particularly engaging. It will be valuable to anyone interested in the man who determined much that we think about ourselves, as well as a good deal about how we think; but it should be said that in the tone and organization and choice of scenes from Freud's life, Newton has written a book with a life of its own." --Leonard Michaels, University of California, Berkeley "Newton's biography is 'novelistic' in the best sense of the word. It is closer to the lived life than any biography of Freud so far and constitutes an important and original contribution to our understanding of Freud, of biography, and of adult development." --Daniel J. Levinson, Ph.D., Yale University "The inevitable first question is whether the world needs yet another Freud biography. Has not the Fruedian corpse been thoroughly picked over by previous biographic scavengers? Somewhat to my surprise it turns out that another worthwhile telling of the Freud narrative is indeed possible.... The most distinctive feature of this Freud biography is that it is built around Daniel Levinson's (1978) adult developmental theories. Newton, who was a protegee of Levinson, argues that development does not stop at adolescence with biological maturity; rather it continues on in recognizable, definable segments throughout the life cycle. According to this view, psychoanalysis has been cramped in its understanding of adults by its adherence to a developmental theory limited to the first thirteen years of life. To prove his point Newton has selected none other than the founder of psychoanalysis, the creator of the child-fixated developmental theory, as his case study.....Newton's Freud surpasses the current standards - Jones and Gay - in its unvarnished, highly nuanced rendering of Freud during his youth to middle-age years.... Newton more than any Freud biographer to date has provided us with a credible Freud narrative based upon verifiable data and animated by an adult developmental perspective. I hope that we do not have to wait until Dr. Newton passes through his 60's to get our next installment, but if we do, the wait will be worth it." --Stephen Walrod, Ph.D., The Journal of the Northern California society for Psychoanalytic Psychology ..". lively and brilliant book....This exciting work should be read by those interested in Freud and psychoanalysis, at all levels of sophistication. General; upper-division undergraduate through professional." --R.H. Balsam, Yale University .,."extraordinarily impressive....Rather than 'psychoanalyze' Freud, Newton applies a sophisticated contemporary model for understanding personality continuity and change in the adult years to the founder of psychoanalysis himself. The result is a remarkable resonance between the theory and Freud's life." --Dan P. McAdams," Journal of Adult Development" .,."a book of great importance. In this volume Newton offers a penetrating reexamination of the origins of psychoanalysis as it took shape in the course of a series of adult developmental periods and transitions between periods of Freud's life. Newton's 'theory of lives' approach to biography provides an important lens through which to explore the data emerging from Freud's correspondences, a good deal of which has only recently become available for study. Thought-provoking critiques of the conventional wisdom regarding the meaning of a number of significant turning points in Freud's life are offered. In addition Newton presents convincing discussions of the relationship of these developmental 'crises' to Freud's major contributions to psychoanalysis. Newton's very fine biography of Freud represents a major new step in our understanding of the origins of psychoanalysis." --Thomas H. Ogden, M.D., Supervising and Training Analyst, Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California "Peter Newton's excellent intellectual biography of Freud's early-to-middle years captures the dramatic movement of a life, and the gradually deepening illumination of character that one ordinarily might look for in a novel. These qualities make his study of Freud sympathetic, original, and particularly engaging. It will be valuable to anyone interested inthe man who determined much that we think about ourselves, as well as a good deal about how we think; but it should be said that in the tone and organization and choice of scenes from Freud's life, Newton has written a book with a life of its own." --Leonard Michaels, University of California, Berkeley "Newton's biography is 'novelistic' in the best sense of the word. It is closer to the lived life than any biography of Freud so far and constitutes an important and original contribution to our understanding of Freud, of biography, and of adult development." --Daniel J. Levinson, Ph.D., Yale University "The inevitable first question is whether the world needs yet another Freud biography. Has not the Fruedian corpse been thoroughly picked over by previous biographic scavengers? Somewhat to my surprise it turns out that another worthwhile telling of the Freud narrative is indeed possible.... The most distinctive feature of this Freud biography is that it is built around Daniel Levinson's (1978) adult developmental theories. Newton, who was a protegee of Levinson, argues that development does not stop at adolescence with biological maturity; rather it continues on in recognizable, definable segments throughout the life cycle. According to this view, psychoanalysis has been cramped in its understanding of adults by its adherence to a developmental theory limited to the first thirteen years of life. To prove his point Newton has selected none other than the founder of psychoanalysis, the creator of the child-fixated developmental theory, as his case study.....Newton's Freud surpasses the current standards - Jones and Gay - in its unvarnished, highly nuanced rendering of Freud duringhis youth to middle-age years.... Newton more than any Freud biographer to date has provided us with a credible Freud narrative based upon verifiable data and animated by an adult developmental perspective. I hope that we do not have to wait until Dr. Newton passes through his 60's to get our next installment, but if we do, the wait will be worth it." --Stephen Walrod, Ph.D., "The Journal of the Northern California society for Psychoanalytic Psychology" .,." lively and brilliant book....This exciting work should be read by those interested in Freud and psychoanalysis, at all levels of sophistication. General; upper-division undergraduate through professional." --R.H. Balsam, Yale University "Newton's Freud surpasses the current standards--Jones and Gay--in it's unvarnished, highly nuanced rendering of Freud during his youth to middle-age years."--"Fort Da" "Peter Newton's fine intellectual biography of Freud's early years...traces the building of his character and the influences on his psychological theories and development. It reads like a novel." --"The Bookwatch" "This fine intellectual biography of Freud's early to middle years captures the dramatic movement of his life....For a new generation of Freud scholars this work is a bustling portrait, fully engaged with previous accounts of his life." --"The Reader's Review" "Newton uses Freud's published correspondence with boyhood friend Eduard Silberstein to show that, by age 19, Freud dreamed of becoming not only a great scientist but a revolutionary healer as well. In this engrossing biography, Newton, a psychology professor at the Wright Institute in California, challenges Jeffrey Masson's accusation, in "The Assault on Truth "(1985), that political expedience motivated Freud to abandon his seduction theory, according to which neurosis results from the sexual molestation of small children. Drawing on Freud's letters to his mentor, Wilhelm Fliess, Newton compellingly argues that Freud's own clinical case studies scuttled the seduction theory, and that Freud's ensuing despair at his inability to uncover the root cause of neurosis led to his systematic self-analysis and to his book, "The Interpretation of Dreams" (1899). By treating Freud's life as a series of developmental stages of personal growth, Newton has fashioned an often startling portrait rich in clinical insights." --"Publishers Weekly" "Newtonpaints a very human portrait of Freud and writes a satisfying and enlightening book....Perhaps the most appealing feature of Newton's book is the view it allows us into Freud's early and mid-life friendships....Newton fills out the reader's understanding of Freud as both scientist and clinician, and conveys a clearer sense of his wish to be a healer....I believe the clinician and nonclinician alike will enjoy Newton's work; if the reader is anywhere near mid-life, his or her enjoyment and appreciation will be even greater." --"The Psychoanalytic Quarterly" "Reading this book is a pleasure. It gathers for fresh review much of the material Freud left in letters, published for the first time only in the last decade, of his evolving loves and their vicissitudes....One is impressed by the novelistic, carefully researched way in which Newton reworks the central forces in Freud's adult development." --"Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association" .,.".an engaging and original book, proving that some lives fruitfully bear endless re-interpretation...." --"International Journal of Psycho-Analysis" ..."extraordinarily impressive....Rather than 'psychoanalyze' Freud, Newton applies a sophisticated contemporary model for understanding personality continuity and change in the adult years to the founder of psychoanalysis himself. The result is a remarkable resonance between the theory and Freud's life." --Dan P. McAdams," Journal of Adult Development" ..."a book of great importance. In this volume Newton offers a penetrating reexamination of the origins of psychoanalysis as it took shape in the course of a series of adult developmental periods and transitions between periods of Freud's life. Newton's 'theory of lives' approach to biography provides an important lens through which to explore the data emerging from Freud's correspondences, a good deal of which has only recently become available for study. Thought-provoking critiques of the conventional wisdom regarding the meaning of a number of significant turning points in Freud's life are offered. In addition Newton presents convincing discussions of the relationship of these developmental 'crises' to Freud's major contributions to psychoanalysis. Newton's very fine biography of Freud represents a major new step in our understanding of the origins of psychoanalysis." --Thomas H. Ogden, M.D., Supervising and Training Analyst, Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California "Peter Newton's excellent intellectual biography of Freud's early-to-middle years captures the dramatic movement of a life, and the gradually deepening illumination of character that one ordinarily might look for in a novel. These qualities make his study of Freud sympathetic, original, and particularly engaging. It will be valuable to anyone interested inthe man who determined much that we think about ourselves, as well as a good deal about how we think; but it should be said that in the tone and organization and choice of scenes from Freud's life, Newton has written a book with a life of its own." --Leonard Michaels, University of California, Berkeley "Newton's biography is 'novelistic' in the best sense of the word. It is closer to the lived life than any biography of Freud so far and constitutes an important and original contribution to our understanding of Freud, of biography, and of adult development." --Daniel J. Levinson, Ph.D., Yale University "The inevitable first question is whether the world needs yet another Freud biography. Has not the Fruedian corpse been thoroughly picked over by previous biographic scavengers? Somewhat to my surprise it turns out that another worthwhile telling of the Freud narrative is indeed possible.... The most distinctive feature of this Freud biography is that it is built around Daniel Levinson's (1978) adult developmental theories. Newton, who was a protegee of Levinson, argues that development does not stop at adolescence with biological maturity; rather it continues on in recognizable, definable segments throughout the life cycle. According to this view, psychoanalysis has been cramped in its understanding of adults by its adherence to a developmental theory limited to the first thirteen years of life. To prove his point Newton has selected none other than the founder of psychoanalysis, the creator of the child-fixated developmental theory, as his case study.....Newton's Freud surpasses the current standards - Jones and Gay - in its unvarnished, highly nuanced rendering of Freud duringhis youth to middle-age years.... Newton more than any Freud biographer to date has provided us with a credible Freud narrative based upon verifiable data and animated by an adult developmental perspective. I hope that we do not have to wait until Dr. Newton passes through his 60's to get our next installment, but if we do, the wait will be worth it." --Stephen Walrod, Ph.D., "The Journal of the Northern California society for Psychoanalytic Psychology" ..." lively and brilliant book....This exciting work should be read by those interested in Freud and psychoanalysis, at all levels of sophistication. General; upper-division undergraduate through professional." --R.H. Balsam, Yale University

Drawing from highly personal correspondence, some of which has only recently been released, this illuminating biography applies a developmental approach to Freud's youth and transition to middle age. It reconstructs the years during which Freud determined his goals, suffered a crisis resulting from his inability to realize them, and fought his way through to the creation of psychoanalysis. In so doing, the book reveals the great complexity of Freud's personal reality and simultaneously challenges critiques of his thinking.
This book will be of interest to readers in the history of psychoanalysis and Sigmund Freud.