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'This book undertakes to examine the whole body of Freud's thoughts, to clarify what he said, and to review his ideas critically in the light of the best available existing knowledge.' So the author
begins his preface. He goes on to state that in the course of writing his book he found that no comparable attempt had ever been made 'with the exception of Ernest Jones' whose work is in a different category. It would not be difficult to take issue with Fine in this regard; others have undoubtedly done the same in various ways. Fenichel's The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis, which is still the classic, certainly discusses every point that Fine makes, but in a different context and with a somewhat different aim.
What distinguishes Fine's work is that he restricts himself almost exclusively to what Freud has written. He does this by dividing his book into four parts. The first covers the beginning of psychoanalysis from 1886 to 1900: the historical antecedents, the early explorations of neurosis, and the period of Freud's self-analysis. The second part has to do with the first attempt to formulate a psychoanalytic system (1900-1914) and covers id psychology, with chapters on the unconscious, libido theory, transference and resistance, and resolution of the classical neurosis; twenty-five pages of famous case histories; the relationship of psychoanalysis to anthropology and art; and a brief chapter on the reactions of the scientific world to Freud (which might better have been omitted). The next five chapters take up ego psychology, the period of Freud's writings from 1914 to 1939. With the exception of the chapter previously objected to, Fine writes with excellent clarity and simplicity. His review of Freud's writings is admirable.
The last part of the book, entitled Retrospect and Prospect, covers subsequent developments in freudian theory, the relation of psychoanalysis to psychiatry and psychology, and the 'schools' of psychoanalysis. Here the tendency to