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A psychotherapy patient who had just decided to begin an analysis saw Retelling a Life on my desk and expressed curiosity about the book. “What,” he wondered a bit anxiously, “could a book entitled Retelling a Lie be about?” I thought how much Schafer would relish an encounter like the one that developed with my patient. The patient was indeed worrying about his “lying to and with me” and about my “lying to and with him,” in both meanings of the word. On another level, continuing Schafer's emphasis on multiple meanings, I thought my patient had raised a critical, challenging question about a central issue in Schafer's theoretical constructs, i.e., that until the truth is ascertained, lies are retold.
This book by Schafer is an eighteen-chapter (twelve of them previously published) exposition of his current theoretical and clinical thinking. It is divided into four sections: Narrating the Self; Narrating Gender; Theories as Master Narratives; and Versions of Practice. This is both an easy and a difficult book to read. It is easy because the writing is vintage Schafer—urbane, lively, unpretentious, and direct. Reading the book is like hearing Schafer lecture in his relaxed, informal style, in which he invites one to think through issues with him while anticipating (some) questions and objections and marshaling arguments to buttress his positions. It is difficult to read because the issues he addresses evoke a constant flow of questions, comments, and intellectual challenges.