THE CURVE OF LIFE by Heinz Kohut, Geoffrey Cocks (Editor) ( 9780226111704 )

Item Details

Title:

THE CURVE OF LIFE
CORRESPONDENCE OF HEINZ KOHUT, 1923-81

By:

Format:

Hardback

List price:	£44.00
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ISBN 10:

0226111709

ISBN 13:

9780226111704

Publisher:

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

Pub. date:

1 June, 1994

Pages:

460

Description:

This collection of over 300 never-before-published letters, drawn from Kohut's private files and from colleagues, covers Kohut's life from his native Austria in the 1930s up to his death in 1981. In these letters, Kohut meditates on some of the most intriguing psychoanalytic questions of his day.

Synopsis:

Psychoanalyst, teacher and scholar, Heinz Kohut was one of this century's most important intellectuals. A rebel, according to many mainstream psychoanalysts, Kohut challenged Freudian orthodoxy and the medical control of psychoanalysis in America. His success in treating narcissistic disorders and his highly influential book "How Does Analysis Cure?" established Kohut's Self Psychology as the strongest rival to traditional psychoanalysis today. "The Curve of Life" reveals Kohut's private and public life through a collection of correspondence with colleagues, public figures, family and close friends. Over 300 never-before-published letters, drawn from Kohut's private files and from colleagues, cover Kohut's life from his native Austria in the 1930s until his death in 1981. Because many of his letters were so substantive, this collection clarifies Kohut's landmark published works. In letters to such diverse personalities as Anna Freud and Bruno Walter, Kohut meditated on some of the most intriguing psychoanalytic questions of the day - the nature of psychological cure, the relationship between doctor and patient, and the role of the Oedipus complex in psychoanalysis.The correspondence also reveals Kohut's interest in literature, music, history and culture, as well as his deep and often contentious involvement in the politics of the psychoanalytic movement. Kohut discussed his theories in letters to August Aichhorn, Heinz Hartmann, the Surgeon General and even Jacqueline Kennedy, and the responses, some published here for the first time, prompted him to explore his ideas from a variety of perspectives. "The Curve of Life" illuminates the evolution of Kohut's theory of the psychology of the self, and provides a rare glimpse into the institutional and intellectual history of psychoanalysis in the last half of this century. These letters should be of interest not only to scholars in psychoanalysis, but also to those in the humanities, social sciences, and even theology, as well as to general readers.

Illustrations:

15 halftones

Publication:

Imprint:

University of Chicago Press

Returns:

Non-returnable

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