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… the processes of the formation of character are more obscure and less accessible to analysis than neurotic ones.
… if voters select narcissistic individuals as their leaders, they may end up with gifted stage performers who are persuasive and decisive. They may, however, also get a good deal more than they bargained for.
This elegant and informative contribution describes the personal, psychological, psychoanalytic, and sociocultural origins and up-to-the-moment development of the concept of narcissism, especially in North America. Perhaps the most creative aspect of the work is the integration and synthesis of intensely conflicting points of view. The author's risk in taking on the issues and diversity of language among the various fields is managed with an extensive scholarship that devotes nearly a third of the book to endnotes. This research is supported by Lunbeck's evenness of tone and respect for her sources.
The book comprises two main sections: the first offers a description of the issues and an overall look at the work of Christopher Lasch, Heinz Kohut, and Otto Kernberg in the 1970s and 80s; the second examines more specific aspects of narcissism from Freud up to the present. Contributors to the controversies surrounding narcissism include social critics like David Riesman and and William Whyte, as well as analysts like Jones, Ferenczi, Riviere, Winnicott, and Erikson, all of whom are considered in some depth. Again, a central theme is Lunbeck's refreshing effort to reconcile opposing points of view rather than simply presenting the positive and negative aspects of the narcissistic character. This is done by including personality factors in the equation, as seen in letters and from material regarding the lives of the various authors, as well as in their formal, written work and therapeutic practice.