Bettelheim: Living and Dying

Bettelheim: Living and Dying
David James Fisher

Amsterdam/New York, NY 2008. IX, 181 pp. (Contemporary Psychoanalytic Studies 8)
ISBN: 978-90-420-2380-2 Paper € 38,-/US$ 57,-
ISBN: 978-90-420-2427-4 Textbook € 16,-/US$ 24.-

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REVIEWS

“A self-declared ‘critical admirer’ and final confident of Bruno Bettelheim, David James Fisher succeeds with as balanced and nuanced a portrayal as seems possible of the character, the lifetime contributions, and the final justifications of a most controversial psychoanalytic eminence. Bettelheim was at once the center of major professional polemics, and at the same time, the psychoanalyst who, after Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson, has had the greatest impact on the wider culture of the twentieth century. Fisher's book is highly recommended reading for all concerned with the interplay of ideas and personas in the evolving history of the psychoanalytic place in the scheme of human development.”

Robert S. Wallerstein, M.D., Emeritus Professor and former Chair, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.

“David James Fisher has written a moving, personal portrait of Bruno Bettelheim as thinker, writer, and friend. His story of Bettelheim during the last two years of his life makes for riveting reading, as does his balanced view of both Bettelheim's personality and his many contributions to psychoanalysis and the treatment of disturbed children. Fisher's work is a valuable volume in the history of psychoanalysis in America, and a wonderful narrative about this enormously complex man.”

Joseph Reppen, Ph.D., Editor, Psychoanalytic Psychology and Chair, Council of Editors of Psychoanalytic Journals.

CONTENTS
Foreword
One Introduction
Two: Psychoanalytic Cultural Criticism and the Soul
Three: Towards A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Fascism and Anti-Semitism: Perceptions from the 1940’s
Four: On Parenting and Playing
Five: The Relationship and Debates between Bruno Bettelheim and Rudolf Ekstein
Six: In Memoriam: Rudolf Ekstein (1912-2005)
Seven: A Final Conversation with Bruno Bettelheim
Eight: The Suicide of a Survivor: Some Intimate Perceptionsof Bettelheim’s Suicide
Nine: Homage to Bettelheim
Ten: An Open Letter to Newsweek
Eleven: Concerning Bruno Bettelheim: A Reply to Former Patients from the Orthogenic School
Twelve: Two Letters from Bettelheim to the Author
About the Author
References
Index
Acknowledgements

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