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Beethoven's artistic life was a success from the very start and remained so until the end. In contrast,
his emotional life was exceedingly unhappy from earliest childhood until the last days of his life. Sterba's pathography does not attempt to explain the two sides or to correlate the work and the emotional life; it only collects and scrutinizes the data from the composer's last ten years and his day-to-day life with his nephew. The reason for the choice of this period and of the story of this relationship is evident. The existing documents would not allow of a full understanding of the relevant emotional facts of Beethoven's whole life. No psycho-analytically justifiable biography could be written on the basis of the existing documentation. Owing to Beethoven's deafness the last years appear to be best documented; the conversation-books are a rich source of knowledge, and in connexion with the numerous letters, descriptions and other documents preserved, a reconstruction is possible. The conversation-books contain not only the answers of Beethoven's companions to his remarks, but also many reflections and monologues in the composer's own handwriting.
The authors' skill in presenting their material demands respect. Their care and objectivity unfolds the whole tragedy of the relationship between Beethoven and his nephew step by step. Most likely the reader at large will be fascinated and horrified. Sterba's psycho-analytical comments guide him to a more or less complete understanding. The authors' honesty and sincerity does not permit them to venture on a more complete picture. It would be easy for the experienced clinician to attempt a complete psycho-analytical post-mortem, but the authors refrain from doing so. This was an unavoidable outcome for the psycho-analyst who respects the limitations of his science; but it provides the clinician only with an object lesson in such limitations. Relationships such as Beethoven's to his nephew are not too co