Description
“The Wilhelm Reich interview, conducted by Kurt Eissler, M.D. representing the Sigmund Freud Archives, took place at Orgonon in Rangeley, Maine, on October 18 and 19, 1952…While Reich in many of his writings did refer to this relationship and to the conflict that developed later, the directness and informality of the interview technique has made it possible to elicit the information in a manner that is both simple and concise, and should have the advantage of placing the reader in a favorable position to determine for himself what was at issue.”
Mary Boyd Higgins & Chester M. Raphael, M.D.
(from the Editors’ Preface)
The core of this book is a tape-recorded interview of Wilhelm Reich conducted by a representative of the Sigmund Freud Archives, Inc. Published here for the first time–much to the displeasure of the Freud Archives–it is a profoundly human and unusually candid document that supplies a long-awaited clarification of the relationship between Freud and Reich. Reich is both critical and compassionate as he discusses the personally tragic but scientifically vital implications of his relationship with Freud.
The book also has an extensive Documentary Supplement containing pertinent extracts from Reich’s writings, as well as previously unpublished material from his archives, including letters to Freud, Adler, Ferenczi, and others involved in the early struggles within psychoanalysis. This book also includes documents revealing the unrelenting hostility of the psychoanalysts toward Reich.
