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In 1944, at the age of sixty-five, Ernest Jones wrote eleven chapters of his autobiography, bringing the account of his life through the end of the first World War. He temporarily abandoned this work to begin what he obviously considered a more important task, Freud's biography. When he returned to his autobiography in 1957, he decided to revise and rewrite it, as recurrent illness made its completion difficult, and he had decided that whatever interest there was in the story of his life lay in his early years.
In the preface to this book Jones gives his reasons for writing an autobiography: First, 'gratitude for life', the need to acknowledge that he had found life rich, good, and beautiful; 'a deep need to say so, to tell someone so, to thank someone'. Second, since he had assisted in the evolution of Freud's work and ideas, it might be of interest to know what kind of person played such a role.
The style is urbane and restrained, frequently digressive and witty, simple in self-portrayal but forceful in criticism of himself and colleagues. Even though not written as a psychoanalytic case