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One of the penalties of being a genius is that after death many who have known one only slightly will write personal memoirs attempting
an interpretation of one's greatness. This seems to be the fate of Sigmund Freud, a fate unavoidable considering the nature of his contribution to mankind, his personality, his long life, and his many contacts with other men.
Choisy, president of the Association for Applied Psychoanalysis, had three analytic sessions with Freud, a treatment then broken off and apparently never resumed with him. On this she bases her 'new appraisal'. She has also read his works, his letters, and his biographies; these are put together with the author's own 'psychoanalytic' and 'philosophic' understandings. What emerges is the picture of a man who only late in life discovered within himself a fear of death which he used to bring forth his theory of death instinct and which, Choisy believes, brought him close to the philosophy of early Hindu thinkers. Choisy presents her evidence that such a fear of death was all-pervasive and existed throughout much of Freud's life. In an effort to deny it he was led first to discover and write of libido and sexuality. Later he came to an acceptance of death and, toward the end of his life, to a way of living with it. Mixed with this thesis is much philosophic and religious discussion which, to this reviewer at any rate, serves only to becloud her presentation.
Choisy gives an interesting account of her approach to Freud's home, her initial impression of him, and the beginning of treatment. The most intriguing part, however, is the point at which her narrative breaks off. She recalls reporting to Freud an incomprehensible dream, which is given in the book, together with a few associations. She then describes how Freud pondered for a few moments, after which he proposed a reconstruction that 'such and such an event happened in your family when you were still in the cradle'. She broke off her analysis at thi