You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
This book is about the life and work of Alexander Luria, a prominent figure in the history of twentieth-century neuropsychology and a person who, according to most of his students and friends, had multiple talents as a researcher, theorist, teacher, and prolific writer. But this “scientific biography” is neither the first contribution of its kind, nor is it apt to significantly further the understanding of Luria's life and work.
There is no doubt that Luria has already received more than just a modest amount of attention from historically minded authors and readers. The point at stake, therefore, ultimately ought to be whether, given that Luria has received considerable attention, Evgenia Homskaya's book meets the criteria a monograph of this sort is usually expected to meet.
In the introductory chapter the author characterizes her teacher and friend as an “exceptional scientist as well as an extraordinary person,” as a man who “belonged to that exclusive category of scientists who have a great number of students and followers during their lifetime,” as someone who was able “to assimilate into psychology the ideas of different adjacent disciplines, such as neurology, physiology, anatomy, biology, and others,” as an “outstanding researcher,” as someone (but here I interrupt the nearly unending list of attributes Ms Homskaya ascribes to the hero of her monograph) whose “most attractive characteristic … was his benevolence” (all quotes are taken from pp. 1-3 of the book under review). Luria was, indeed, a socially visible and exceptionally productive researcher. Yet, one might raise the question as to whether a biographer's admiration for—and yearlong collaboration with—the person to be analytically portrayed is by itself a sufficient condition for an informative historical study, especially if the outcome of this study seeks to convey more than the author's private recollections.
Luria published two self-portraits: in 1974 a short self-presentation in volume IV (pp. 253-