Synopses & Reviews
In the half-century since his death, the Hungarian analyst Sándor Ferenczi has amassed an influential following within the psychoanalytic community. During his lifetime Ferenczi, a respected associate and intimate of Freud, unleashed widely disputed ideas that influenced greatly the evolution of modern psychoanalytic technique and practice. In a sequence of short, condensed entries, Sándor Ferenczi's Diary records self-critical reflections on conventional theory--as well as criticisms of Ferenczi's own experiments with technique--and his obstinate struggle to divest himself and psychoanalysis of professional hypocrisy. From these pages emerges a hitherto unheard voice, speaking to his heirs with startling candor and forceful originality--a voice that still resonates in the continuing debates over the nature of the relationship in psychoanalytic practice.
Review
The Diary is the work of a sane mind in full possession of its powers and gives us insight into the day-to-day thoughts of a practitioner whose status as a creative innovator is probably unsurpassed since Freud. It is a very moving book. One is continually amazed by the courage of the man. Peter Gay - London Review of Books
Review
Compelling...Ferenczi was an innovator, an experimenter, someone who was always trying new approaches to the treatment of mental illness, even when his unorthodox techniques placed him in opposition to his analyst and mentor, Sigmund Freud. Stuart Schneiderman
Review
Allows the public to assess, far better than before, the range of [Ferenczi's] professional gifts and the depth of his psychological vulnerability...A welcome addition to the growing number of significant texts illuminating the history of psychoanalysis. New York Times Book Review
Review
Freud criticised his one-time favourite son for advocating the 'kissing technique', Ferenzci believed that 'only sympathy heals'. This is the 1932 record of his analyses. His work was faltering, doubting, and quite possibly, healing. Peter Lomas - Times Literary Supplement
Synopsis
In the half-century since his death, the Hungarian analyst Sándor Ferenczi has amassed an influential following within the psychoanalytic community. In a sequence of short, condensed entries, Ferenczi's diary records self-critical reflections on conventional theory--as well as criticisms of his own experiments with technique--and his obstinate struggle to divest himself and psychoanalysis of professional hypocrisy.
About the Author
Judith Dupont is a psychoanalyst and lives in Paris.
Table of Contents
Editor's Note
Acknowledgments
Introduction by Judith Dupont
Abbreviations
The Clinical Diary of Sándor Ferenczi Draft Introduction by Michael Balint
Notes for a Preface by Michael Balint
Index