Freud's Paranoid Quest: Psychoanalysis and Modern Suspicion [Paperback]

John Farrell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1998

Freud's Paranoid Quest is an exceptionally broad-ranging and well-written book....Whether or not one agrees with certain of his arguments and assessments, one must acknowledge the remarkable intelligence that is displayed on nearly every page.
--Louis Sassauthor of Madness and Modernism and The Paradoxes of Delusion

John Farrell's Freud's Paranoid Quest is the most trenchant, exhilarating and illuminating book I have encountered in many years. [The book] should be pondered not just by all students of Freud's thought but by everyone who senses that 'advanced modernity' has by now outstayed its welcome.
--Frederick CrewsUniversity of California, Berkeley

In Freud's Paranoid Quest, John Farrell analyzes the personality and thought of Sigmund Freud in order to give insight into modernity's paranoid character and into the true nature of Freudian psychoanalysis. John Farrell's Freud is not the path-breaking psychologist he claimed to be, but the fashioner and prisoner of a total system of suspicion. The most gifted of paranoids, Freud deployed this system as a self-heroizing myth and a compelling historical ideology.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Farrell is Associate Professor of Literature at Claremont McKenna College.

Product Details

• Paperback: 275 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081472650X
• ISBN-13: 978-0814726501
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,870,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Farrell on Freud: A rational and learned study, May 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Freud's Paranoid Quest: Psychoanalysis and Modern Suspicion (Paperback)

John Farrell's book, FREUD'S PARANOID QUEST, is a brilliantly written and clearly reasoned study of Freud's psychological theories. Farrell places Freud firmly in the traditions of Romantic paranoia (with Rousseau and many others) and enlightened satire. He adds a most important (perhaps the most important) chapter to the recent revaluation of Freud's thought. Without malice or exaggeration he shows the madness and egotism of Freud's "sytem" both in its theoretical and clinical manifestations. He points to the mammoth distortions in Freud's use of evidence derived from his patients and his tyrannical and irrational relationships with his famous colleagues. Though this volume is likely to be misunderstood by those dedicated to pychoanalysis, it is written for those who have serious questions about the scientific, philosophical, and literary value of Freud. In short, this is without question the best single volume to read for those interested in the problems of Freud's thought, and for those who wish to place it in the context of modern intellectual culture.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant Work, June 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Freud's Paranoid Quest: Psychoanalysis and Modern Suspicion (Hardcover)

Were the reviewer from St. Louis to actually meet John Farrell, he would find laughable the proposition that such an unassuming man could be engaged in a "paranoid quest for fame." I should know--I am one of Prof. Farrell's students. Yet despite his humility, Farrell has written a brilliant exploration of the darker side of Freudian thought, and the effect its widespread influence has had on contemporary society. Since all psychology ultimately stems from Freudian assumptions about the psyche, Farrell's book is one which helps to shatter the glass dome we live in, the dome built of Freudian constructs that threatens to forever eliminate meaningful human interaction by reducing all actions and all discourse to the mere product of latent desires. This is much more than just another Freud-bashing book. It is a systematic dismantling of the fantasy world--built by a certifiably insane cocaine addict named Sigmund Freud--in which many of us choose to spend our lives.

6 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A stretch, August 5, 2003

By 

"sgt_d" (Palo Alto, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Freud's Paranoid Quest: Psychoanalysis and Modern Suspicion (Hardcover)

To be sure, Farrell is passionate about his subject . . . but in his zeal to discredit Freud he ignores essentially the entire corpus of medical research into psychoanalysis and psychiatry more generally. As a result, this is really an indictment of Freud's personality--not his theories of the mind. And the efficacy of psychoanalytic theory rests of a careful evaluation and comparison of results, not merely a screed against the theory's ultimate author.