You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Randolf Alnæs' monograph on Psychoanalysis in Norway invites differing interpretations depending on one's point of departure. We have therefore asked three reviewers to present their review of the book: Leif Longum, Professor in Scandinavian Literature at the University of Bergen, Norway, Johan Schubert, psychoanalyst from Stockholm and Sverre Varvin, Norwegian psychoanalyst.
Some years ago, Randolf Alnæs, Professor Emeritus and former co-editor of this journal, published “An historical overview” of “The Development of Psychoanalysis in Norway”, in English (The Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review, 3/1980). He has now written a revised, illustrated and greatly expanded Norwegian version, “Psychoanalysis in Norway”, with the subtitle “History, training, treatment, research.”
Professor Alnæs' monograph is mainly addressed to his colleagues. However, since psychoanalysis, in Norway as in other countries, has had far-reaching effects not only on the theories and treatment of nervous disorders, but also on education, child rearing, sexual morality, on literature and art, the story of how it was received and developed is of general interest as well. This review has to be read in this context.
My own background is in Scandinavian literature, and consequently I am not qualified to criticize Psychoanalysis in Norway as a history of a highly specialized profession. I have, however, worked extensively with Norwegian and Scandinavian literature as part of the cultural life of the