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By Robert Fliess, M.D. New York: International Universities Press, Inc., 1972. 390 pp.
SYMBOL, DREAM, AND PSYCHOSIS. Volume III, Psychoanalytic Series. By Robert Fliess, M.D. New York: International Universities Press, Inc., 1973. 435 pp.
In the Psychoanalytic Series, a trilogy1 clearly intended as a magnum opus, Robert Fliess undertakes to present his "original findings made over more than three decades of fascinating experience" (Vol. III, p. 411). If Fliess found his analytic work fascinating, the reader will find his report of it equally so. Fascination, however, is a very incomplete description of one's reactions, since reading these books is really an exercise in affective polarities. This reviewer found that he moved back and forth between fascination and boredom, delight and vexation, enlightenment and confusion, and conviction and disbelief.
Because of the historical interest which the name Fliess holds for analysts, and because the author's personality so obviously shaped his work, it seems best to begin with a brief picture of Fliess the man.2 Robert Fliess, of course, was the son of Wilhelm, the Berlin otolaryngologist who played such an important part in Freud's life. Wilhelm