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Many works have been written in French about Groddeck. Their interest is in "the wild analyst," the special position he occupied in the development of psychoanalysis, and the doctor who was a disciple of Schweninger and an early contributor to the study of the psychosomatic dimension. Roger Lewinter, the philosopher, has revealed more poetically than anyone else what is poetic in Groddeck's approach.1 Jacques-Antoine Malarewicz has looked at the psychosomatic line extending from Groddeck to Ferenczi to Balint.2 In 1971, a translation appeared of a text by Groddeck3 that until then had been unpublished in French, with the title, "About the Human Belly and Its Soul." Recently, too, the complete one hundred and fifteen Psychoanalytic Conferences for the Use of the Ill, written by Groddeck in Baden-Baden between 1916 and 1919 was published in French.4 We can say that Groddeck never stopped questioning, being interesting, being present.
How is it that Groddeck's texts and ideas have been stirring interest during these times of balance sheets, of more systematic analysis, in France? Jacquy Chemouni's book helps to answer this question. What is it all about?
It is about filiation first of all. It contains a very clever analysis of Groddeck's relations first to his father's medical conceptions and then to those of Schweninger. It shows the way Groddeck's medical convictions were built up, particularly his attitude about illness and the art of attending. Groddeck considered science as merely temporary and prominently variable. Most important to him is the