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Much in this study of the creativity of writers will be familiar to Dr. Bergler's numerous readers and disciples. Here they will find his characteristic diagrammatic style of exposition, his well-known uncompromising assertions, and the concepts he has often described—the five-layered structure of sublimation, oral regression, psychic masochism and pseudo aggression. This book not only expounds these phenomena, it shows them as essential factors in creative writing and in the personality of writers. With reference to these concepts this book also discusses the writer's relations to his fellows (especially as regards plagiarism), to his readers (exemplified by mystery addicts), to society, and to the culture of his time.
These basic concepts then are the core of the book. Of their validity there can be little discussion. They are the quintessence of years of unusually keen clinical observation. To understand them requires careful study; to appreciate them the reader should apply them not only to the cases Dr. Bergler cites, but to his own as well. These ideas will then become useful diagnostic and therapeutic tools.
Opinions differ though on the extent to which oral regression and pseudo aggression contribute to a creative act. In Dr. Bergler's view these elements are paramount, perhaps exclusively. Others have pointed out the parts played in artistic production by homosexuality, by Oedipal impulses, by aggression and by a need for