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This is an interesting book made up of interviews with the French psychoanalyst Didier Anzieu conducted by Gilbert Tarrab, Professor in the Department of Administrative Sciences at Quebec University. The advantage of this format is that a wide range of topics are covered by Anzieu, including his own personal history, what led him into psychoanalysis, his views on analytic theory including the role of the body and the functioning of groups, political movements such as the events of May 1968 in which he was initially a participant, social and ecological questions and the nature of the creative process.
The disadvantage is that topics are rarely covered in much depth, you get a taste for a subject but you are left somewhat frustrated. In addition, in this case the interviewer tends to look for the more sensational aspects of Anzieu's involvements, sometimes to the detriment of rigorous arguments. However, this is probably necessary in order to liven up the conversations, particularly when the subject of them is not prone to exaggeration or to dramatic gesture. I certainly ended up being interested in Anzieu's ideas, and wanted to follow them up in more detail.
Anzieu describes, with honesty, how he probably became an analyst in order to take care of his emotionally fragile mother, who was prone to depressive breakdowns necessitating hospitalizations. He felt that he 'got away with' an ordinary neurosis because of his solid and warm relationship with his father. However, his mother's madness became a domestic reality. Furthermore, he had to replace a dead sister, and was smothered with his parent's anxiety.
I was not allowed to risk myself in the outside air without being smothered under several layers of clothing: sweater, overcoat, beret and scarf. The envelopes of care, concern, and warmth with which my parents surrounded me, one upon another, did not part from me even when I left home. I carried their load on my back. My vitality was hidden at the heart of a