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This remarkable collection of monographs by universally recognized masters of the psychoanalytic technic deals with the individual factors in the determination and formation of the life activities of four noted men who are representatives of their respective groups. We have here revealed many of the basic determinants of lives devoted to reformation, poetry, painting, and science respectively. The monographs dealing with Zinzendorf, Lenaus and Segantini are second editions belonging to the group of publications on applied psychology edited by Professor Freud, and are, therefore, already well known to psychoanalysts.
Count Zinzendorf was a noted German religious reformer born in 1700 at Dresden to a very pious family, whose ancestors were Austrian, but who had become Protestants in the reformation struggle. He was very young when his father died, and his mother married again when he was four years old, however, his education was directed by a very gifted and pious grandmother who contributed considerably to the formation of his character. Pfister has divided his life for analytic purposes into several periods from infancy to death, the contents of which must be read in detail to be appreciated. Enlightening interpretations have been made of the childhood, boyhood and young manhood periods including the forces active in his several transformations of character. He was early disappointed in a love which had settled on his cousin Theodora and interpreted this disappointment as a sign or call to do work for God. He later married, settled on an estate and created a religious community, the influence of which spread over many places in Europe.
Zinzendorf's two marriages, his wandering periods, outward life, inner thought developments, and the eruption period are among the events discussed under the “Manhood period.” Of particular interest are the features of his piety during the “eruption” phase of his character. Here one finds his general hypothesis, a description of his se