Ernest Jones: Freud's Alter Ego (Hardcover)

by Vincent Brome (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Brome (Jung, Freud and His Early Circle) begins by identifying Welsh psychoanalyst Jones as "the power behind the Freudian throne"; but this edgy, uneven biography, while well-researched and frequently informative, is ultimately murky about Jones' precise role in Freudian history - and about his "complex" personality too. During Ernest's earliest years (lower-middle-class origins, studies), Brome primarily deals with the self-psychoanalytic insights in Jones' autobiography, speculating about their reliability. The most intriguing material comes next: Jones' early years as a pre-Freudian psychiatrist; his repeated problems with charges of immoral advances toward patients ("there is no shred of evidence to suggest that he was ever in any way guilty"); his long common-law marriage with the unstable Lee Kann (later a Freud analysand). And, here and there, Brome muses on Jones' psyche - mostly in vague terms ("many neurotic symptoms troubled him"), with periodic rundowns on private life (two marriages, children), cases, and contradictory personality traits. But the main focus, of course, is on Jones' role in the tangled feuds and theoretical clashes in psychoanalysis, starting with the Freud/Jung split ("it was Jones, not Jung who, in the early pioneering days, was apprehensive of too much sexual emphasis"). Brome goes on to detail: the wrangles over Freud publications - SF blaming Jones, Jones blaming Rank (Brome terms Jones' effort "wonderful," but "qualified by his inability to delegate work and responsibility"); Freud's conflict with the US branch, Jones helping to effect a compromise; rivalry with the theoretically adventurous Ferenczi ("it is easy to rebut the charge" that Jones deliberately maneuvered himself into the Psycho-Analytic Society presidency); the disagreements with Freud, especially over the contributions of Melanie Klein vs. Anna Freud. And, after very briefly sketching in Jones' later years, Brome offers a critical yet finally adoring (and patronizing) look at the massive Freud biography: "All hail therefore to the supreme example of Jones' written work and his ten year struggle with mountainous material." Throughout, in fact, Brome's ever-qualifying approach yields a sense of wishy-washiness rather than shrewd balance. Characteristically, his often-awkward prose mixes psychoanalytic jargon with faintly sneering skepticism about much Freudian doctrine. And, most crucially, the portrait of ambitious/idealistic Jones as Freud's acolyte remains fuzzy, despite occasional verbose explanations: "Amongst the welter of contradictory elements which produced a psyche seething with neurotic potential the sheer multiplicity of his activities marked him out as a master at that particular blend of power-intrigue-devotion which creates the Grey Eminence hovering behind the Master's throne." Useful as a gathering of data, then (the Freud/Jones correspondence especially) - but neither absorbing as biography nor intellectually acute on psychoanalytic history. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; First Edition. edition (May 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393015947
• ISBN-13: 978-0393015942
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• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,470,978 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)