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This clearly written and fascinating book offered under a title which seems to have little or no bearing on its contents, has been prepared by one of the older members of the Freudian School, who is also a successful writer of interesting novels. In the light of his extensive knowledge of psychoanalysis and of human life in general, Dr. Wittels has discussed
a wide variety of activities which involve the libidinous expressions of the personality, in a way which ably demonstrates that he has been able to identify himself almost completely with the American point of view.
He has promised that this book will be followed by others applying psychoanalytic principles to criminology, pedagogy, politics, and business, but the present volume endeavors to give a psychoanalytic explanation to the subject of love or sex including such manifestations as sex deviations, masked sadism, bisexuality, narcissism, relationships between parents and children, great haters, etc. These matters, which are always of universal interest, have been so entertainingly developed by the author that the book is bound to have a wide reading, and the reader will have little difficulty in maintaining his interest to the last page.
So many “psychoanalytic expositions” have been written by amateur authors, or by those who have made a fast bid for reputation by consciously formulating “complexes” in their literary productions in order to keep step with the “new thought” in psychology, that the publication of a book for popular consumption by a trained and experienced analyst may be regarded as an important event. The problems of sex are here discussed in a manner which brings into the foreground Freud's basic discoveries, concerning repression, unconscious conflict, the interpretation of dreams and the structure of the ego, and removes from them some of the stigmata of filthiness projected by a certain type of lay and scientific mind. Wittels says, “I made up my mind … to prove to the American public tha