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IRP 12:109-110 (1985)

Ernest Jones. Freud's Alter Ego

Author: Vincent Brome

Abstract

DEAR SIR,

For brevity's sake I will isolate eight points in the farrago of half truths and distortions which constitute Mr Riccardo Steiner's review of my book— Ernest Jones. Freud's Alter Ego.

1Mr Steiner writes: 'Mr Brome does not seem to realize that one of the most important aspects of Jones' theory of symbolism is the thesis that affects can also be unconsciously repressed'.
One page 239 I write: 'Paradoxically, the concepts symbolized may be known to the individual but [Jones says] "the affect investing the concept is in a state of repression and so is unconscious".'
2Mr Steiner writes: '… it is not so much a taste for gossip that I wish to object to here, even though such a taste is particularly pronounced in Mr Brome's case'.
There is no gossip in my book. Every important statement is carefully footnoted in 520 footnotes. Where interviews are involved I used the same rigorous techniques as Dr Eissler in collecting material for the Freud Archive. The example given by Mr Steiner is a gross travesty of the original quotation and it, too, carries a footnote: 'Interview Michael Balint, December 1957'. Perhaps Mr Steiner thinks that he is a better informed and more reliable witness than Michael Balint.
3Mr Steiner complains that I use the Freud–Jones letters 'in a rather strange fashion, not even making use of them as he could have done on occasion to document events and moments of fundamental importance in the history of the psycho-analytic movement'.
Scattered through my book are several such contributions in one of which Mr Steiner himself became a collaborator. It concerns the arrival of Mrs Klein in England and the subsequent friction between Freud, Anna Freud and Mrs Klein. Mr Steiner was very helpful in translating a particularly difficult German passage on page 156. It should also be noted that I was not writing a history of psychoanalysis, but a biography of Ernest Jones. Space enforced a sharp focus on my subject.
4Steiner's divine insight comes to

IRP 12:109-110 (1985)

Ernest Jones. Freud's Alter Ego

Author: Vincent Brome

Abstract

DEAR SIR,

For brevity's sake I will isolate eight points in the farrago of half truths and distortions which constitute Mr Riccardo Steiner's review of my book— Ernest Jones. Freud's Alter Ego.

1Mr Steiner writes: 'Mr Brome does not seem to realize that one of the most important aspects of Jones' theory of symbolism is the thesis that affects can also be unconsciously repressed'.
One page 239 I write: 'Paradoxically, the concepts symbolized may be known to the individual but [Jones says] "the affect investing the concept is in a state of repression and so is unconscious".'
2Mr Steiner writes: '… it is not so much a taste for gossip that I wish to object to here, even though such a taste is particularly pronounced in Mr Brome's case'.
There is no gossip in my book. Every important statement is carefully footnoted in 520 footnotes. Where interviews are involved I used the same rigorous techniques as Dr Eissler in collecting material for the Freud Archive. The example given by Mr Steiner is a gross travesty of the original quotation and it, too, carries a footnote: 'Interview Michael Balint, December 1957'. Perhaps Mr Steiner thinks that he is a better informed and more reliable witness than Michael Balint.
3Mr Steiner complains that I use the Freud–Jones letters 'in a rather strange fashion, not even making use of them as he could have done on occasion to document events and moments of fundamental importance in the history of the psycho-analytic movement'.
Scattered through my book are several such contributions in one of which Mr Steiner himself became a collaborator. It concerns the arrival of Mrs Klein in England and the subsequent friction between Freud, Anna Freud and Mrs Klein. Mr Steiner was very helpful in translating a particularly difficult German passage on page 156. It should also be noted that I was not writing a history of psychoanalysis, but a biography of Ernest Jones. Space enforced a sharp focus on my subject.
4Steiner's divine insight comes to