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There has been considerable discussion of late in both literary and scientific circles regarding the validity of popularizing knowledge that is founded upon specialized endeavor. No field has been more shamelessly exploited by this practice than the one relating to Freudian psychology. The result has been that the public has come about as close to an understanding of the Freudian theories as it has to grasping the implications of the theory of relativity. A short time ago the reviewer attended a moving picture production entitled “Don Juan.” Thanks to the clever performance of the leading character, the evening was very entertaining, but no authentic Don Juan ever put in his appearance. Similarly, modern popular treatises on the sex question include usages of Freudian terms which carry entirely different connotations to legitimate Freudians. To a certain extent this disparity may be attributable to the hazards encountered in attempting a simplification of the unduly complex Freudian terminology. Fielding is more gifted than many of his contemporaries in the art of simplification. In this book he has been very careful to enunciate only those principles of Freud which the public is prepared to assimilate. He has done so without serious distortions. The work also includes a sort of kindergarten description of the anatomy and physiology of the generative organs as well as a brief of the proper and improper parent-child relationships. The author, it seems, has given the lay reader a treatment of the sex problem which defies misinterpretation, and he has very deftly avoided discussion of technical points which so often leads to confusion and misunderstanding.
Cassity