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Journey metaphors are widespread in descriptions of psychoanalyses but in this book the analogy is particularly fitting. The author takes us on a gripping four decade long analytic expedition; stopping briefly at various points along the way to savour key moments and taking small detours to illustrate points of theory and technique. This is the author's third full length analytical description after What Do You Get When You Cross a Dandelion with a Rose (Volkan, 1984) and The Search for the Perfect Woman: The Story of a Complete Psychoanalysis (Volkan & Fowler, 2009). Vamik Volkan is a renowned teacher and author whose expertise in the psychoanalytic understanding of psychosis as applied to individuals and institutions are well known. For readers familiar with his writing, this book continues in the same lucid style making complex psychoanalytic concepts accessible to both, novice readers and more experienced practitioners alike.
With a title like Would-be Wife Killer curiosity is easily aroused in the reader about what happens to the patient and his wife during the course of treatment. The salient events of the patient's life are outlined in the first paragraph of the introduction leaving the reader to focus on the exploration and treatment of the complex psyche behind this “would be wife killer.” ‘Attis’ the patient is admitted to a psychiatric facility after he comes close to decapitating his wife with an axe. This is the beginning of his long association with Dr. Volkan. The introduction also contains a list of the main theoretical points made by the author in handy bullet points which is useful to come back to later.
The book describes not just the analytic journey taken by the patient but also the journey of a newly arrived immigrant to the USA, a junior resident in psychiatry, who goes on to become an eminent psychoanalyst and teacher, receiving many accolades in the process. The reader and the patient follow Dr. Volkan through his many consulting rooms, from t