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Paul Schimmel, a Sydney, Australia psychoanalyst, has written a detailed, lucid, paean-like biographical work about Sigmund Freud, the recognized founder of psychoanalysis and already one of the most portrayed individuals of the past 75 years. Using Freud's own description of himself as a “Conquistador” , Schimmel posits that one can understand the evolution of many of Freud's major ideas as reflecting his struggle to integrate two contrasting sides of his personality, that of the adventurous explorer and the rational, scientific thinker.
It is not Schimmel's intention to write a comprehensive biography, but rather to illustrate Freud's achievements as reflecting his “personal emotional journey” (p. 1). Using the premise described above, and sounding much like Freud's analyst would have sounded, Schimmel concentrates on several key chapters of Freud's life to support his premise. These include the transition from Freud the neuroanatomy researcher to clinical hypnotist studying with Charcot; his self-analysis and the creation of The Interpretation of Dreams; his struggle and eventual relinquishment of his Project for a Scientific Psychology; and his reactions to and the impact on his work of World War I. In the course of his discussions Schimmel draws extensively from the correspondence between Freud and Wilhelm Fleiss, and sees in their relationship many of the well-known transferences and conflicts that have previously been identified by nearly all of the major Freud biographers.
Schimmel's work is organized into seven chapters. The first three provide necessary history about Freud and his intellectual background and development, leading up to his struggles with the Project. In the first chapter Schimmel introduces the reader to many of Freud's early intellectual heroes: Brentano (philosophy, phenomenology); Brucke (physiology); and disciples of Helmholtz. He also recounts the familiar, tragic cocaine chapter of Freud's life—citing it to support his (Schimmel's) them