This groundbreaking and unabridged classic from the founder of modern sexual pathology contains 238 case histories detailing every form of sexual perversion - with a new appendix of additional (previously excised) case histories, an essay by Krafft-Ebing on homicidal "menstrual psychosis," and an introduction by Brian King (author of "Lustmord: The Writings and Artificats of Murderers"). Translated from the twelfth and final German edition, Psychopathia Sexualis is essential reading for students of sexual perversity, criminal psychology, and European fin-de-siecle art and literature. First published in Germany in 1886, Krafft-Ebing's book was extremely successful as both a classic reference volume for psychiatrists and as a new form of pornographic literature for the sexually transgressive and perverse. Printed in seven languages and twelve editions during the author's lifetime, Psychopathia Sexualis was an influence on such notable figures as Sigmund Freud (a younger colleague of Krafft-Ebing's at the University of Vienna), painters Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, writers Marcel Proust and Frank Wedekind, and philosopher Georges Bataille and the surrealists. Psychopathia Sexualis is extraordinarily timeless in its factual depiction of the astonishing vagaries of sexual life. As a psychiatric text, it was one of the first books to extensively illuminate and define such subjects as sadism, masochism, fetishism and homosexuality; as a work of sexual literature, it has often been compared to the Marquis de Sade's classic, "120 Days of Sodom."
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
First published in 1886, this ranks among the earliest titles to deal with sexual pathology. Krafft-Ebing, a doctor specializing in psychosexual afflictions, wrote this as a manual to assist other doctors treating those with the disorders. The book also found great popularity as an underground handbook for masochists, transvestites, and wackos of all types. With psychology having grown exponentially since its publication, this book now is more of a curiosity.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
Beautifully realized by Brian King, whose editorial notes provide all the context you need, Krafft-Ebing's prose is a revelation. -- Eye Magazine, August 1, 1999
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pioneering text of crimonological psychology,
This review is from: Psychopathia Sexualis -- A Clinical-Forensic Study (Paperback)
Though it is difficult to obtain nowadays, this is a classic compendium of some 230 case histories dealing with sexual perversions, presented in often fascinating detail. The terminology may have changed since the compilation of these "pathologies", which range from lustmurder, "contrary sexual instinct", (homosexuality) frottage, masochism, sadism, sadomasochism, ideal sadism and pederasty. Though presented in a spare, descriptive, purportedly detached tone, it cannot be denied that Krafft-Ebing's purpose is not to offer an objective analysis, but to assume also the role of a guardian of moral order: a prognostician and theraputician of the deviances and illnesses that menace society. This role can only be fully understood in the context of his time, which unambiguously asserted the type of patriarchal masculinity and the sanctity of the monogamous bourgeois family. Under this standard, any "deviance" from these norms was not to be simply addressed by curative means, but also punitive ones. It would be interesting to put into contraposition the rhetorics and paradigms of Krafft-Ebing and Foucault, who, in more recent years, provided masterful and penetrating insights into the epistemic and discursive formations that have been used in modern society to regulate and police sexual behaviour, as in the nineteenth century's obligation to pathologise homosexuality as an "aberration", a category rejected in the mainstream of the West. Though it must be of great interest to students of forensic medicine and clinical psychiatry, this study would also be equally appreciated by non-specialist readers who are interested in the subject of sexual deviance.
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