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There are advantages to very short books. Karl Abraham: At the Roots of Analytic Theory, first published in Italian in 2002 and now translated for the first time, is in reality no more than a longish essay, which might seem mean given that its subject is one of the founders of psychoanalysis, more or less the only one who retained the full confidence of Sigmund Freud throughout his life, and a great influence on later analysts. Looking back now, it is hard to understand why Abraham has been relatively neglected in the literature - honoured but not much discussed, eclipsed by his more influential analysand, Melanie Klein. It is very helpful, therefore, and a kind of necessary tribute, that his ideas are aired and his place in psychoanalytic history recorded, even in such a short space as Franco De Masi allows.
In reality, the brevity of Karl Abraham, which echoes the brevity of the man himself, dead (in 1925) before the age of 50 to the great detriment of the psychoanalytic movement and of Freud, works well in making Abraham's contribution to the history of psychoanalysis accessible and comprehensible. The book gives us a brief account of Abraham's life, his main ideas (the longest chapter), his rich correspondence with Freud, and his position in the psychoanalytic movement. Every element could of course be expanded - especially the two-page chapter on the correspondence, which De Masi describes as being ‘of irreplaceable scientific value’ (p. 45). De Masi emphasises the intellectual creativity of the letters between Abraham and Freud and claims their humanity too, even if his somewhat stolid prose, maybe an effect of translation, gets in the way of really appreciating this: ‘this collection of letters appeals to the reader as would a novel rich in humour, which neither protagonist falls short of, especially when it comes to the obtuseness and narcissism of colleagues or rivals’ (p. 45). Some more of this humour and liveliness would have been nice, as at times it is h