The Freudian Mystique: Freud, Women, and Feminism by Samuel Slipp New York:  New York University Press, 1993,  ix + 240 pp., $35.00

This is a book with a good idea. Slipp intends to show that Freud's early experiences with his mother, his nanny, and his sisters profoundly influenced his theory about female sexuality. And it is a book with many provocative facts. Freud had both a mother and a nanny; thus he was not reared in what we think of as the normative nuclear family. He arranged for his sister-in-law to live with him and his wife and children; thus he did not rear his own children in a normative nuclear family either. He had female colleagues and interested his daughter in psychoanalysis, leaving the care of the family business to her.

So far, so good. But Slipp's execution of his intention is disappointing. Using awkward prose and wild speculation, which he asserts as if it were fact, Slipp betrays his intention. An example of his speculation is his statement of his central thesis:

Amalie may have felt trapped in this marriage to an older man who could no longer provide her and her children with the security, economic status,

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and protection she had expected. Her marriage, like many others in Europe had been arranged like a business contract based primarily on economic concerns about dowry, inheritance and social status. No doubt she was in a state of despair over Jacob's business failure and the deaths of her brother and baby. Her deep personal tragedies in all likelihood influenced her inability to be emotionally available to Sigmund. (p. 63)

Slipp provides no evidence that Amalie's marriage was a business arrangement. Companionate marriage had appeared as an acceptable pattern in Europe in the 17th century. Many people married for love by the middle of the 19th century, especially where there was neither a title nor real property to be secured. Slipp himself admits that he does not know why Amalie married Jacob Freud. He was a tall, handsome, quiet, gentle older man—she could have married him for love.

Amalie's state of mind when Sigmund was two years old is also a matter solely of Slipp'