In a book that the New York Times called “engaging...dramatic,” Werner Muensterberger plumbs the psychology behind the act of collecting, profiling individual collectors and their habits and looking at the cultural and historical patterns of collecting.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Kirkus Reviews
A blend of compelling anecdotes and dull psychoanalysis, as Muensterberger (an N.Y.C. psychoanalyst) examines the whys and hows of manic collecting. Collecting, Muensterberger establishes at the outset, can be an ``all-consuming passion''--whether the quarry be seashells, books, paintings, or women (he cites Don Juan as a prototypical collector). The act of accumulating repeated examples of a beloved collectible, he says, reduces ``the tension between id and ego'' and becomes ``an experiment in self-healing''-- invariably, of a childhood trauma or anxiety. A magical relationship develops between collector and object, most blatantly in aborigines who collect heads or in the faithful who gather saints' bones, but evident in all collecting. Upon this familiar premise (that collecting is a sign of insecurity), which sometimes leans towards reductionism (belief in the power of relics is ``an illusory attempt at self-preservation''), Muensterberger lays a banquet of fine stories. The centerpiece consists of three psychobiographies: of Thomas Phillips, a cruel and selfish man who longed to possess one copy of every book in the world; of the novelist Honor‚ de Balzac, obsessed with bric- a-brac; and of ``Martin G.,'' an acquaintance of the author's who adored porcelain, bronzes, netsuke, and other objets d'art. Around these three men flutter a host of other collectors, from Petrarch (who had a passion for coins) to Mario Praz (who spent his honeymoon collecting Roman antiquities) and the 17th-century Dutch who spilled fortunes on tulips. Almost all are men; most are smart; many are aware of the extent of their mania; and the one certain rule that governs them all is that they reach no saturation point: Collecting is the addiction par excellence. Too ideological to entrance most readers--but students of psychology will want to add this to their collections. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Dr. Werner Muensterberger (born 1913 in Germany), is a collector of African art, a psychoanalyst and an ethnopsychiatrist. As a youngster, certain collectors, including his kinsman, Eduard von der Heydt, introduced him to ethnographic art. After immigrating to the United States in 1947, with $100 and two African sculptures, one a Guru mask, Muensterberger continued to collect African art, practice psychoanalysis and taught ethnopsychiatry. Returning to the U.S. in 1985, from London where he had "retired" in 1974, Muensterberger reopened his private practice. Muensterberger has written books and articles on ethnographic art, including Collecting: An Unruly Passion (1994). This article contains photographs of certain African sculptures in Muensterberger's collection, most notably the Guru mask, and is followed by some Thoughts on Collecting, a dialogue between the article's author and Muensterberger.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
PSYCHO BABBLE,
By dearjanemarple (Southern California) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Collecting: An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives (Paperback)
I was offended from the first page of this book written by a psychiatrist, whose theory trivializes the emotional, aesthetic and intellectual (not to mention fun) qualities of collecting by reducing the pursuit to "compulsive action molded by irrational impulses." The author interprets the acquisition of objects "as a powerful help in keeping anxiety or uncertainty under control." This anxiety is ostensibly caused by "underlying factors" such as "war, a parent's suicide, prolonged illness, physical handicaps, death of a sibling, or SIMPLY NOT-GOOD-ENOUGH early care."
With this tunnel-vision approach, Muensterberger proceeds to relate anecdotes of famous collectors' lives and interpret them as compulsive and unconscious behaviors to alleviate neuroses. The text is padded with details about the rich and famous: Balzac was a collector of "bric a brac," a hobby described as deriving from childhood suffering. The collecting habits of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II are similarly reduced to "anal-obsessive character traits." Getty, Duveen and a plethora of historical fugues litter the text. This book is a classic example of psychoanalytic gibberish, probably originating from the author's doctoral thesis, based on the number of footnotes. Ultimately, there is no argument here related to collecting that could not equally apply to any human behavior. Thus, there is no argument at all. As any educated person knows, it is all to easy to take an erroneous theory and find lots of examples to support it. As a former curator at a top ten museum, I think I am more familiar with collectors than the author. As a collector myself, I know that collecting is a happy, positive and enriching experience. Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Analysis - Recognized Myself On Almost Every Page,
This review is from: Collecting: An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives (Paperback)
I could not put this book down from the minute I started reading it and recognized myself on almost every page. As an inveterate collector, many of the observations related to the behavior of "monomaniacal" collectors rang absolutely true and sometimes uncomfortably hit home. While some the the Freudian psychoanalysis may be a little off [or at the very least subjective], these analyses are not the crux of the book and it should not be mistaken for a jargon-laden treatise. Instead, the many descriptions of various collectors and their motivations, habits, rituals and behaviors were - in my own personal experience - completely spot-on. In fact, I wish the book was twice as long! If I had any critical comments, they would only be that there were not enough contemporary profiles of collectors and perhaps too much focus on historical figures and the collecting trends of various historical periods. All-in-all a very informative, insightful and though-provoking read...a must for hard-core collectors!
15 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Psychology collectors may fear!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Collecting: An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives (Paperback)
The case studies are quite entertaining. The analysis of the drive to collect as a way to undo inner anxiety, stress and childhood trauma seems dubious, but who can say? Collectors may scoff at the analysis, or they may enjoy it....
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Listmania!
|
|
