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Susan Quinn's recent biography of Karen Horney is an admirable piece of work. It surpasses in quality and scholarship earlier attempts at dealing with the same subject, and it is far better written. Any serious student of Horney's work will find it indispensable because of its exhaustive research and ample documentation. It offers far more information than its main predecessor, Jack Rubins' Karen Horney, Gentle Rebel of Psychoanalysis, and it does not perpetuate the latter's many mistakes. Harold Kelman's Helping Hands contains only a brief biographical sketch, dealing in the main with Horney's ideas and even more with his own.
Karen Horney was a controversial figure, in life and even now, 35 years after her death. She certainly had a mind of her own, and I cannot think of a better title for her biography. Gentle she was not, in my opinion, and I feel uneasy labeling her a rebel, a term that has faintly compulsive connotations. To paraphrase what has been said about Franklin Delano Roosevelt: “She was loved by many, hated by many, but few were indifferent to her.”
But here I find myself dealing with Horney herself, which is not really the subject for a critique of a book on her. Several of the reviews which appeared shortly after the publication of Susan Quinn's book dealt almost exclusively with Karen Horney, not with Susan Quinn's work. While this shift in emphasis is understandable and even tempting, it is less than fair. Susan Quinn deserves a review of her own.
Why did she write this book? Why did she go to the immense trouble of researching biographical background material that takes years of unearthing, verifying, and checking for accuracy? Is such accurate knowledge helpful to students of the subject's work which, after all, must stand or fall on its own merit? These questions raise issues that go beyond the current book. They ask whether biographies of authors are of value and interest to readers and students of an author's work. There is little doubt that suc