The Dynamics Of Literary Response. Norman N. Holland. New York:  Oxford University Press, 1968.  xviii & 378 pp. Studies in Psychiatric Art. R. W. Pickford. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C Thomas, 1967.  xix+340 pp.

This profusely illustrated book, by a professor of psychology in Glasgow, examines various examples of art by the mentally disturbed patient. The final chapter deals with classical versus modern art. Interpretations are along Freudian and Jungian lines; the author seems to have this interpretative approach in common with Margaret Naumburg. He mentions her 1947 publication on Free Art Expression of Behavior Problem Children but does not refer to her later books on psychoneurotic and schizophrenic art.

Not mentioned at all is The Door of Serenity, a study in the therapeutic use of symbol painting, in which Dr. Ainslie Meares discusses and reproduces in color the paintings of a schizophrenic girl in her early twenties. Art Therapy in a Children's Community, by Edith Kramer, is omitted from both the text and the bibliography, as is The Springs of Creativity, by H. Westman. These omissions are noted to set the record straight, so to speak. They do not diminish the value of this book, nor do they detract from its contribution to our understanding of what psychoneurotic and schizophrenic patients communicate through their drawings and paintings.