I read this book for 2 reasons: 1) I saw that the movie was coming out and I was intrigued. Okay, I'll admit it, I wanted to read a book about a woman who slept with both Jung and Freud. Of course I knew a non-fiction book about the development of psychological methods wasn't going to be anything like a movie made for entertainment but I still wanted to see what the book had to offer. 2) I majored in psychology and, since graduating, have decided that I should read a non-fiction book every once in awhile to keep my mind from turning to mush. So this fulfills my learning quota for a while. Glad I got that out of the way.
The result: I had no idea men are such babies! I mean, I know men are babies but this is just ridiculous!
Freud, already an established genius in the new world of psychoanalysis, takes the younger but equally brilliant Jung under his wing. My problem with Freud has always been that he thought that EVERYTHING was about sex. Really? Everything? That and the fact that his methods were so glaringly unscientific. I was relieved in this book to find that even his contemporaries complained about these things. Jung included.
Poor Jung had his own theories about psychoanalysis. Many of them were directly in line with some of Freud's theories, some were not. Rather than discuss these differences the poor young Carl felt that he had to adjust his theories (or, at least, adjust how he presented them) in order to match Freud's theories. He felt that Freud, being older and so well established in his position as the father of psychoanalysis, couldn't possibly be argued with. I can understand this, given his position, but I still wish Jung had stuck to his guts from the beginning.
However, Freud did not take criticism well. He adopted this very immature "you're either with me or against me" attitude and anyone who differed from his theories or found fault in any of his work was decidedly against him. When Jung finally got up the balls to stand up to Freud and put forward his own views, their relationship finally ended. Apparently, after having agreed to end the friendship, some of the papers they published were meant to be little jabs at each other. I'm sorry, but are they twelve-year-old girls? Because that's all I could think while I was reading this!
Well, as it turns out, we have absolutely no proof that Spielrein slept with either of them. There is quite a bit to suggest that she did sleep with Jung - at the very least the two had some very deep feelings for each other - but I see absolutely no evidence that she did anything of the kind with Freud. None of her correspondence with Freud struck me as anything but professional.
My favorite part of this book was learning about Sabina Spielrein. Yes she was a little crazy but she also had some brilliant theories of her own and she wasn't afraid to publish them. Even when she was Jung's patient she argued with him over her diagnosis - and argued well (this in an era when the shrink is always right). She did gradually move from Jung's school of thought to Freud's and, as mentioned, she did maintain correspondence with Freud but, even then, her own ideas were her own - not to be easily swayed - and that made her my favorite person in this book.
I'll read something more interesting next. Promise.
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