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In the Preface the translators claim for this book that it 'is an application of psycho-analysis to the theory of æsthetics as illustrated by a detailed study of Verhaeren's works'. The 'interpretation Freud has supplied for dreams Baudouin achieves for the imagery of the artistic creator.' Psycho-Analysis and Aesthetics solves the 'riddle of artistic appreciation'. Baudouin 'claims no merit for having brought our analysis to so satisfactory
a conclusion and for having found so faithful an expression of Verhaeren's personal life in the manifold symbols we encounter in his work'. These impressive statements in the Preface and the author's satisfaction in the conclusion may carry weight with popular exponents of psycho-analysis, but students of the subject will find nothing in this volume that will help to elucidate the 'riddle of æsthetic appreciation' except the copious extracts from the poet's works.
The author shows no knowledge of the fundamental conceptions of Freudian theory, albeit it is claimed that this book makes an achievement that parallels Freud's Interpretation of Dreams. A few illustrations will suffice to show this ignorance.
'Unconscious' and 'subconscious' are everywhere used as equivalents. Page 22: We are told that the reason for the alarm experienced in a nightmare is due to the displacement of affective stress on to a harmless object (in the dream) from the real cause of anxiety (in the present). Page 23: 'We rarely dream of our major occupations.' 'We do dream them under a mask.' This is because of a 'process of repression whereby we automatically disembarrass ourselves of something disagreeable'. Page 90: 'We do not repress crude instincts merely: we repress likewise, sublimated instincts'. The author coins the term 'autophilia' for 'auto-erotism'. On page 284 we are told that 'two tendencies … seemed to grow from one plant: the two tendencies are autophilia and asceticism. The former becomes increasingly purified until I feel