PSYCHOBIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY

2002

Published in Fall Issue of Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 2002.

ARTICLES:

Heuer, Gottfried. "Jung's Twin Brother: Otto Gross and Carl Gustav Jung." Journal of Analytical Psychology 46.4 (2001): 655-688.

Investigates the impact of anarchist Gross' life and work on the development of Jung's Analytical Psychology.

Hadley, Susan. "Exploring Relationships Between Mary Priestley's Life and Work." Nordic Journal of Music Therapy 10.2 (2001): 116-131.

Explores the music therapy work of Priestley as reflecting her lived biographical contexts.

McDermott, John. "Emily Dickinson Revisited: A Study of Periodicity in Her Work." American Journal of Psychiatry 158.5 (2001): 686-690.

Wants to make the case that Dickinson's writing and behavior can be examined profitably in relation to patterns of affective "illness." This short essay prompted several replies that appeared in subsequent issues of the journal, and that deserve to be read closely as well.

Kaufman, James. "The Sylvia Plath Effect: Mental Illness in Eminent Creative Writers." Journal of Creative Behavior 35.1 (2001): 37-50.

Finds that female poets are especially liable to suffer from mental illness, based on an analysis of 1,629 writers. Christens this findings the "Sylvia Plath Effect," after the gifted yet doomed American poet.

Preti, Antonio; De Biasi, Francesca; and Miotto, Paola. "Musical Creativity and Suicide." Psychological Reports 89.3 (2001): 719-727.

Investigates the percentage of deaths by suicide in a sample of 4,564 eminent artists who died in the 19th and 20th centuries. Finds that musicians as a group had lower suicide rates than literary and visual artists. Speculates that this may be accounted for by the fact that music provides some sort of "protective effect."

Blumer, Dietrich. "The Illness of Vincent van Gogh." American Journal of Psychiatry 159.4 (2002): 519-526.

Psychiatric--as opposed to psychological--analyses of artists and other notable figures tend to settle for diagnostic formulations of the life in question. In keeping with such a pattern, this essay finds two distinct episodes of "reactive depression" in van Gogh's life history, as well as "bipolar aspects."

Kuyumjian, Rita. "Impending Death as a Catalyst in Reconnection: Case Study of a Historic Artist-Survivor." International Journal of Mental Health 30.2 (2001): 27-40.

Focuses on conflicts at the core of the life of Komitas (1869-1935), renowned and beloved Armenian ethnomusicologist and composer.

Spaniol, Susan. "Art and Mental Illness: Where is the Link?" Arts in Psychotherapy 28.4 (2001): 221-231.

Looks at nine living artists to explore the role of creativity and its healing potential as regards mental illness and wellness.

Turco, Ronald. "The OBject and the Dream: Mark Rothko." Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis 30.1 (2002): 17-34.

Focuses on childhood loss and unresolved grief in considering the artist Mark Rothko's creativity and personality.

Rizzuto, Ana-Maria. "Psychoanalysis and Art: A Psychoanalytic View of the Life and Work of Cezanne." International Journal of Psychoanalysis 83.3 (2002): 678-681.

Reports on a panel discussion held in France in July, 2001. Panelists, all using psychoanalysis to explore facets of Cezanne's lif and art, included Beetschen, Melgar, and Rascovsky de Salvarezza.

Hamilton, James. "Nothing Specific, Nothing Human: The Life and Work of Piet Mondrian." Psychoanalytic Review 88.3 (2001): 337-367.

Explores what part, if any, the primal scene played in MOndrian's life and what effects it may have had on his art.

Brody, Marta. "Paul Klee: Art, Potential Space, and the Transitional Process." Psychoanalytic Review 88.3 (2001): 369-392.

Discusses several ways in which the process of painting serves as an organizer of the artist's experience.

Le Guerer, Annick. "The Psychoanalyst's Nose." Psychoanalytic Review 88.3 (2001): 401-453.

Looks at Freud's fraught and uniquely important relationship with Wilhelm Fleiss, and at the role of the nose, of all things, in the birth of psychoanalysis.

Piven, Jeremy. "Phallic Narcissism, Anal Sadism, and Oral Discord: The Case of Yukio Mishimia, Part I." Psychoanlytic Review 88.6 (2001): 771-791.

Contends that Mishima's fantasies, perversion, and quasi-fascistic politics all reflect a highly conflicted oral matrix, a violent sadism, and an intensely exhibitionistic phallic narcissism.

Piven, Jeremy. "Narcissistic Revenge and Suicide: The Case of Yukio Mishima, Part II." Psychoanalytic Review 89.1 (2002): 49-77.

Here explores Mishima's fantasies of murdering both abandoning objects and the idealized image from which he felt alienated, as well as the complex fantasies implicated in Mishima's voyeurism and suicide.

Hazani, Moshe. "Red Carpet, White Lilies: Love and Death in the Poetry of the Jewish Undergound leader Avraham Stern." Psychoanalytic Review 89.2 (2002): 1-47.

Draws on the work of Stern to elucidate the phenomenon of thanatophilia, love of death.

Pruitt, Virginia. "Alice Munro's 'Fits': Secrets, Mystery, and Marital Relations." Psychoanalytic Review 89.2 (2002): 157-167.

Approaches Munro's short story "Fits" from a psychodynamic perspective.

Schapiro, Barbara. "Psychoanalysis and Romantic Idealization: The Dialectics of Love in Hardy's 'Far From the Madding Crowd.'" American Imago 59.1 (2002): 3-26.

The origins of Hardy's fascination with an idealized, erotic other are pursued.

Ingham, John. "Primal Scene and MIsreading in Nabokov's 'Lolita.'" American Imago 59.1 (2002): 27-52.

Contends that the masterpiece "Lolita" conceals an inner design or thesis, and tries to work through Nabokov's deceptions--always in dreadful operation--to an idea about the novel's core riddle.

Keesey, Douglas. "'Your Legs Must be Singing Grand Opera'": Masculinity, Masochism, and Stephen King's 'Misery.'" American Imago 59.1 (2002): 53-71.

Suggests that the male masochism of "Misery" contains within in a wishful fantasy of sadistic male triumph.

Faye, Esther. "Missing the 'Real' Face of Trauma: How the Second Generation Remember the Holocaust." American Imago 58.2 (2001): 525-544.

Examines the life-stories of those who experienced the Shoah indirectly, as children growing up with parents who were its survivors.

Spiro, Joanna. "Weighed in the Balance: H.D.'s Resistance to Freud in 'Writing on the Wall.'" American Imago 58.2 (2001): 597-621.

Looks at the means by which H.D. resists Freud's unwelcome interpretation of her sexuality.

SPECIAL ISSUE:

Spector, Jack (editor). "Metapsychological Considerations on Kris, Prinzhorn, and Klee." American Imago 58.1 (2001).

Three art historians versed in psychoanalysis analyze the work of Prinzhorn, Kris, and Freud, while a fourth inteprets a piece by Klee. This special issue contains the following essays:

Brand-Claussen, Bettina. "The Witch's Head Landscape: A Pictorial Illusion from the Prinzhorn Collection, 407-443.

Pfarr, Ulrich. "Ernst Kris on F.X. Messerschmidt: A Valuable Stimulus for New Research?, 445-461.

Roeske, Thomas. "Traces of Psychology: The Art HIstorical Writings of Ernst Kris," 463-477.

Spector, Jack. "On the Limits of Understanding in Modern Art: Klee, Miro, Freud," 479-496.

BOOKS:

Josselson, Ruthellen; Lieblich, Amia; and McAdams, Dan. P. "Up Close and Personal: The Teaching and Learning of Narrative Research." Washington, D.C.: APA Press, 2002.

Destined to become a landmark in the field of life history research and psychobiography, this edited volume brings together many of the leading practitioners of narrative psychology, each offering insights on the teaching and the doing of narrative research. Chapters include the following:

Ouellette, Suzanne. "Painting Lessons."

Clinchy, Blythe. "An Epistemological Approach to the Teaching of Narrative Research."

Rogers, Annie. "Qualitative Research in Psychology: Teaching an Interpretive Process."

Dauite, Colette; and Fine, Michelle. "Researchers as Protagonists in Teaching and Learning Qualitative Research."

Chase, Susan. "Learning to Listen: Narrative Principles in a Qualitative Research Methods Course."

Greenspan, Henry. "Listening to Holocaust Survivors: Interpreting a Repeated Story."

Ochberg, Richard. "Teaching Interpretation."

Rosenwald, George. "Task, Process, and Discomfort in the Interpretation of Life-History."

Schultz, William Todd. "The Prototypical Scene: A Method for Generating Psychobiographical Hypotheses."

Anderson, James William. "A Psychological Perspective on the Relationship Between William and Henry James."

Weiland, Steven. "Writers as Readers in Narrative Inquiry: Learning from Biography."

Ely, Margot. "Braiding Essence: Learning What I Thought I Already Knew About Teaching Qualitative Research."

Gergen, Mary; and Davis, Sara. "Dialogic Pedagogy: Developing Narrative Research Perspective Through Conversation."

Josselson, Ruthellen; and Lieblich, Amia. "A Framework for Narrative Research Proposals in Psychology."

Eastman, Jennifer. "Albert Camus: The Mythic and the Real." Danbury, CT: Routledge Books (2001).

A psychobiography of Albert Camus, the philosopher/author killed in an auto accident in 1960, known for his exploration of the "absurd" in life and art.

Homskaya, Evgenia. "Alexander Romanovich Luria: A Scientific Biography." New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers (2001).

A portrait of the life and work of this great Russian psychologist/neurologist.

Janata, Jaromir. "Masochism: The Mystery of Jean-Jacques Rousseau." Danbury, CT: Routledge Books (2001).

Explores the "dark side" of Rousseau's character, with a focus on his "moral masochism."

Schain, Richard. "The Legend of Nietzsche's Syphilis." Westport, CT: Greenwood Press (2001).

Challenges the view that Nietzsche's actions and sometimes erratic writings were due to the effects of general paresis or syphilis of the brain. Also explores the alternative diagnosis of schizophrenia which, though more plausible, is still felt to be inadequate as an explanation for Nietzsche's mental deterioration.

Cole, Ardra; and Knowles, J. Gary. "Lives in Context: The Art of Life History Research." Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press (2001).

An introduction to the process of life history research.

Winer, Jerome; and Anderson, James William. "The Annual of Psychoanalysis (volume XXIX): Sigmund Freud and his Impact on the Modern World. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press (2001).

A comprehensive reassessment of the influence of Freud in the context of contemporary scientific, psychotherapeutic, and academic landscapes.

DISSERTATIONS:

Buitrago, Ricardo. "An Intellectual Biography of Josef Breuer: A Historical Review of his Life, Contributions, and Works. DAI 62.4-B, (Oct, 2001).

Reviews the life and work of Breuer, perhaps best known for his 1895 work with Freud on hysteria, Studies in Hysteria.

Fincher, Holly. "Symbol of the Androgyne: A Jungian Interpretation of the Psychological Process of Individuation in Virginia Woolf's 'Orlando: A Biography.'" DAI 62.3-B (Sept, 2001).

Uses Jungian concept of individuation and its goal of androgyny as a lens through which to view Woolf's "Orlando," who is seen as a symbol of the androgyne.

Ralevski, Elizabeth. "A Study of the Relationship Between Creativity and Psychopathology." DAI 61.12-B (2001).

Eighty artists and thirty-four controls participated in this study that reached the following conclusions: painters are more prone to pathology and original thinking; Eysenck's concept of psychoticism seems not to be associated with original thinking; and the link between creativity and psychopathology involves both psychosis-proneness characteristics and affective symptomatology.

Grame, Tricia Anne. "Life Into Art; Art Into Life: Transformative Effects of the Female Symbol on a Contemporary Woman Artist." DAI 61.10-A (May, 2001).

An exploration of one woman's search for the soul of her creativity.

WEBSITES:

"www.psychobiography.com." This site is managed by William Todd Schultz. Its two aims are to provide reliable information about the field of psychobiography, and to make Schultz's various publications more easily available.

"www.ulmus.net." This site is managed by the psychobiographer Alan Elms, and includes links to his writings, as well as information about the fields of psychobiography, personality psychology, and science fiction, one of Elms' special research interests.