Living in the Shadow of the Freud Family

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Living in the Shadow of the Freud Family (eBook) Pub. Date: 4/30/2007 Publisher: ABC-CLIO, Incorporated
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Living in the Shadow of the Freud Family Pub. Date: 4/30/2007 Publisher: Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated

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Overview

"I had to do something to escape Hitler's clutches," writes Esti Freud. Yet she waits with her then-16-year-old daughter, Sophie in Paris, until German canons can be heard in the distance, before deciding to escape by bicycle across France as Sophie keeps looking back to see whether German tanks will overtake them. Both women survive by sheer miracle and, in their own ways, come to feel a need to keep a personal record of those tumultuous times. In a memoir written at age 79, Esti Freud, daughter-in-law of Sigmund Freud and wife of his oldest son Martin, looks back on her life that began before the 20th century, was lived on three continents, and stretched through two world wars and the Holocaust. Twenty years after her mother's death, daughter Sophie turned to Esti's memoir as a scaffold for this book, expanding it through family letters and archival material. Out of these documents the author has created a fascinating, many-voiced mosaic--the story of a famous family and of a century seen through the eyes of many characters. Indomitable Esti was not an easy person to love. While she establishes herself professionally three times, in three different languages, her troubled family relationships leave her lonely, often deeply unhappy. Sophie confides that Esti died without son or daughter at her side.

This work gives an insider's, in-law view of the family Freud, its foundations, and flaws. The relationship between Esti, daughter of a wealthy Vienna attorney and her husband Martin Freud is foreshadowed by the young lovers' fathers. At first meeting Esti, Sigmund told his son the glamorous woman was "too beautiful" for the clan, meaning her splendor belied a lifestyle not conducive to the frugal Freud ways. And Esti's father, on hearing of her love for Martin, expressed regret she was involved with a man who was "not a financially favorable linkage," and that his family was not respectable since patriarch Sigmund was "just another psychiatrist, and one who writes pornography books at that." Thus begins the ill-fated relationship that would rock two families and a generation of children to come. Sophie weaves into the text letters she inherited, including letters from Martin while he was a prisoner of war, and excerpts from her own diary, kept as an adolescent. The resulting mosaic will fascinate--and perhaps disturb--readers interested in Freud and psychoanalysis, as well as those intrigued by relationships and family.

What People Are Saying

Charles B. Strozier

"What is in fact most compelling about this book is the sublime honesty of Sophie Freud herself. One feels her pride and her suffering as a scion of psychoanalytic aristocracy."

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Charles B. Strozier, Professor of History, John Jay College and the Graduate Center, CUNY

Dorit B. Whiteman

"This riveting, insightful book illuminates the personal lives of Freud's extended family through letters, diaries and personal observations. No melodrama can match the loves, hates, betrayals and deceptions that rend the members apart. Yet there are displays of extraordinary courage, outstanding achievements, intense cultural pursuits and deep dedication. For instance, amazing courage is displayed by Freud's daughter-in-law and granddaughter as they escape the advancing Germans by bicycling across France. Benignly but distantly, Sigmund floats above the turmoil. For the Freud scholar this is a must-read, for the layman it is as juicy as a gossip column."

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Dorit B. Whiteman, Ph.D., President, Nassau County Psychological Association author of The Uprooted: A Hitler Legacy and Escape via Siberia: A Jewish Child's Odyssey of Survival

Frank J. Sulloway

"Spanning more than a century of family history, Sophie Freud's captivating memoir presents a penetrating and brutally honest glimpse into the conflicted lives, unfulfilled dreams, and cruel setbacks experienced by this extended branch of the Freud family. Readers will be fascinated by the sometimes harrowing details of how this famous family--buffeted by the tragedy of two world wars and the horrors of the Holocaust--survived the arduous path from Vienna to a new life in America."

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Frank J. Sulloway, Author of Freud, Biologist of the Mind: Beyond the Psychoanalytic Legend and Born to Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics, and Creative Lives.

Louis Breger

"I found myself completely taken over, pulled into the story and unable to put the book down…so compelling is the combination of historical events with intriguing personal/family stories…. This saga, fascinating in its own right, and sheds reflected light on the famous Freud family. Autobiography, diaries and letters give multiple views of these events, held together by Sophie Freud's own fiercely honest narration. I know of nothing like it and strongly recommend it as a beautifully crafted work that will appeal to the widest group of readers."

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Louis Breger, Ph.D., Author of the acclaimed biography Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision

Morris N. Eagle

"This is a fascinating and unusual book, one that can be read at many different levels. It is a moving document--an act of love--of a daughter who, in her own later years, re-discovers her mother through her mother's autobiography. This is altogether and extraordinary, even epic, account of mainly the lives of mother and daughter, but also of an entire family. I was very moved by its depth, sadness, courage, and honesty."

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Morris N. Eagle, Ph. D., Professor Emeritus, Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies Adelphi University.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780275994150
Publisher: Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated
Publication date: 4/30/2007
Pages: 472
Sales rank: 583,002
Product dimensions: 6.40 (w) x 9.20 (h) x 1.90 (d)

Meet the Author

SOPHIE FREUD is a distinguished and internationally known Professor Emeritus of Social Work at Simmons College. Also previously a practicing Clinical Social Worker and Supervisor, she was born in Vienna and lived near her famed grandfather, psychologist Sigmund Freud, until she emigrated with her mother, first to France then to the United States. Sophie Freud attended Harvard College and the Simmons School of Social Work. She continues teaching and writing in her retirement.

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Anonymous

Posted June 12, 2007

A Mutifaceted and Unique Read - Well Written

Reading Sophie Freud's writing is a little like having a conversation with a friend - her style is academic yet accessible - she tells a fascinating set of stories. The book is her story, her mother's story, and an insightful experience of key historical events related to World War II and more - a rich and unusual approach to memoir/biography. One of her greatest strengths is her brutal honesty.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 27, 2008

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