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Written in 1930-2, the psychological study of President Wilson (Freud and Bullitt, 1967) has never become part of the Freud complete works. It is this exclusion that
aroused the curiosity of Fanny Elman Schutt (a psychoanalyst with extensive experience of teaching Freudian thought), leading her to embark on a long and rigorous study that culminates in this book.
Why has this text been so neglected? Why was it excluded from Freud's complete works? Why did Freud collaborate with Bullitt, a man so foreign to the psychoanalytic milieu? What was Freud's actual contribution, and what was Bullitt's? Such are the questions the author tackles, offering us her own answers in a clear and simple language, always from the perspective of Freud's oeuvre and without losing sight of the sociopolitical context in which the text was written. To do so, she had to painstakingly trace not only Freud's contribution, but also the details of the agreement both authors reached in Berlin in 1930, the fantastic itinerary of the manuscript—always in Bullitt's hands—the vicissitudes of its publication, and its very cool reception.
The book—preceded by a thorough and interesting presentation by Maricarmen Jiménez (Professor of Psychology, Barcelona Central University)—starts with ‘Wilson, a psychological study’. In this first chapter, Elman Schutt provides clarifying and indispensable historical information on the protagonists and their sociopolitical context—the Great War and the Versailles peace conference—which takes up a significant part of the original text. The author also investigates Freud's co-author's personal background, as well as his participation and responsibility in the loss of the original manuscript. Oddly, this loss took place on the same day the Germans occupied Paris, when Bullitt was the US ambassador to France.
The second chapter, ‘Ideas and motivations’, doubtless constitutes the core of the book. Based on her knowledge and understanding of Freud's