From the Editors

In this issue, we feature a series of reviews that, while addressing a range of topics, are linked through a common thread: how does psychoanalysis address complex questions of historical context, theoretical and conceptual nuance, and interdisciplinary influences to make sense of the human condition in times of strife? Each of these pieces invites the reader to go beyond familiar frameworks and span the distance between the lessons of history and the complex demands of the contemporary world. The books we have chosen for review explore new approaches to understanding human suffering, intellectual hunger, and the desire for human connectedness.

In his beautifully written book essay, “Stories of Survival in Memoiristan,” Elliot Jurist weaves together themes of trauma, memory, psychoanalysis, memoir writing, and the memoirist's ego in the works of Salman Rushdie. Initially, Jurist found himself strangely unmoved by Joseph Anton, but empathized more with him after Rushdie suffered a near-lethal knife attack while onstage at Chautauqua. Jurist reflects that “Salman Rushdie had experienced something universal, that is, having a deepest fear, but also something rare, having his deepest fear come true.” Noting Rushdie's at times vindictive, complaining, and sometimes malicious tone, especially toward his women partners, Jurist wonders about the author's

unexpectedly mean-spirited inflection. Jurist's interest is piqued by Rushdie's description of his psychoanalysis after the attack, about which Rushdie is strangely inarticulate. Jurist muses about the role of psychoanalysis in alleviating Rushdie's post-trauma