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This volume comprises essays which were originally given as inaugural lectures for The Freud Memorial Chair at the University College London between 1975 and 1988. As James Lighthill put it with some pride: 'This work celebrates 14 years of the Freud Memorial Professorship programme' (p. xv).
Thus the stage is set: memory and celebration. Inevitably, each author has to look back and to combine his personally tinted thoughts of the day with the traditional language of the field. As 'the preparation of an inaugural lecture is something that is never taken lightly' (Sandler, p. 1), all contributors strove to give their best by synthesizing knowledge with personal views and by not expressing opposing ideas and approaching controversial topics. Freud is the central character and therefore no one will be surprised that all the papers, scrutinized as they are, are wrapped in and imbued by respect and eulogy. When celebrating, one is usually in a state of elevation in which one tends to centre on established ideas; this is very helpful for those who learn. However, the historical Freud sometimes gets distorted, for example Schafer misunderstands him as a man abundant with humanistic ambitions (pp. 13f.)
The reviewer, with German as his native language and coming from academic and psychoanalytic circles, appreciates the stringency of thought and the smooth presentation, less known in his professional surroundings. Sometimes the adjectives sound like epitheta ornantia; they calm the reader, provide clarity and delay questions. The battlefield of thoughts must be found elsewhere, not in these eleven articles.
Each contribution aims for plausibility rather than proof. This facilitates reading and brings about a clear, although not oversimplified, distinction between current theories. The languages of psychoanalysis, however, are largely spread over the history of the discipline, so readers will be confronted with vocabulary which can only claim coherence and meaning ac