Clin Soc Work J (2009) 37:89–91 DOI 10.1007/s10615-008-0179-8
BOOK REVIEW
David James Fisher, Bettelheim: Living and Dying Rodolpi, Amsterdam, 2008, 180 pp, $41.00 William S. Meyer
Published online: 5 November 2008 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008
[Concerning Anna Freud] ‘‘In regard to her the official psychoanalytic attitude is that everybody has ambivalences about his parents, with the one exception of Anna Freud. Well enough of that.’’ Conclusion of a letter from Bruno Bettelheim to the author, June 24, 1983. David James Fisher has written an important and engaging book about Bruno Bettelheim, Ph.D., (1903– 1990) who might be one of the most famous (and most controversial) psychoanalytic figures of twentieth century America. Bettelheim, author of 17 books and numerous articles and essays, was largely a self-credentialed psychoanalyst, outside mainstream American psychoanalysis, a group that mostly ignored him. The range of topics for which Bettelheim is known is itself breathtaking. Among the most prominent: his writings on the psychological effects of concentration camp survivors, of which he was one (Bettelheim 1943); his seminal work on milieu therapy, especially for deeply disturbed children, written during his tenure (1944–1973) at the renowned Orthogenic School (see, for instance, Bettelheim 1967, 1974); his famed book on fairy tales, which garnered prestigious national awards (Bettelheim 1975); his groundbreaking work on the German to English mistranslations of Freud (Bettelheim 1982); and his famed book on child-rearing (Bettelheim 1987) which sold over 100,000 copies in France alone. The space allotted a review does not permit more than a mention of his important work on these and other topics. W. S. Meyer (&) Duke University Medical Center, Box 3812, Durham, NC 27710, USA e-mail:
[email protected]
This relatively slim volume, certainly small when compared with the three major Bettelheim biographies (Pollak 1997; Raines 2002 and Sutton 1996), aspires to provide neither a comprehensive study of his life nor his work. Rather, Bettelheim: Living and Dying provides rich and intriguing perspectives on this extraordinary and complicated man, including personal accounts by the author who served as confidante to Bettelheim in the years just prior to Bettelheim’s suicide. In this collection of previously published papers, Fisher, a practicing psychoanalyst and a European cultural historian, weaves together a mosaic of essays that could only have been written by one whose scholarship cuts across such broad territory. There are 12 chapters and five overlapping sections of this book that focus on (1) an overview of Bettelheim’s life and work; (2) an analysis of Bettelheim’s work on the Holocaust and on parenting; (3) reflections on Bettelheim’s relationship and debates with lay analyst Rudolf Ekstein (1912–2005); (4) multiple perspectives on Bettelheim’s life and suicide; (5) and a concluding section in which Fisher defends Bettelheim against the many attacks that arose after Bettelheim’s death. It is a challenge to write an even-handed account of the controversial, complex and mercurial Bettelheim. (Pollak’s 1997 retaliatory biography, for example, is so negatively one-sided that many consider it to be utterly lacking in credibility.) The balanced description of Bettelheim that Fisher provides is a testament to this author’s psychoanalytic insight and skill as a writer. As clinically brilliant as was Bettelheim, and I do not use this descriptor lightly, he was a man whose character flaws were extensive. Bettelheim had a razor-sharp intellect and clinical talents that at times seemed to stem from a depth of insight that was beyond the capacity of most. Like other geniuses, however,
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he could be pugnacious, abrasive and intolerant. He was unconcerned with being popular and his writings often aroused passionate protests. No subject was too sensitive. Who, but Bettelheim, would have dared to criticize, of all persons, the family of Anne Frank, whose denial and complicity, he said, contributed to their family’s destruction (Bettelheim 1966). As Fisher so deftly describes, ‘‘[Bettelheim] wrote and spoke against the currents of established opinion, taking on sacred cows, relishing his ability to unmask moral shams, to undermine shallow or naı¨ve psychological positions, and to provoke his audience to reconsider established pieties’’ (p. 1–2). Among the unique vantage points the author is able to bring to these essays, let me mention two–one is his work as an historian and the second is his personal relationship with Bettelheim and Ekstein, who was 9 years Bettelheim’s junior. As an historian, Fisher widens his subject matter to include an assessment of how five European psychoanalyst e´migre´s (Otto Fenichel, Ernst Simmel, Erik H. Erikson, Rudolf Lowenstein, and Bruno Bettelheim) were to understand fascism and anti-semitism and how they struggled with their own ambivalently held Jewish identities. (Did you know, for example, that Erik H. Erikson’s first seven papers were signed, simply, Erik Homburger?) Regarding his personal relationships with his subject material, Fisher had been an analysand of Ekstein for 10 years, the last two of which overlapped his relationship with Bettelheim. Ekstein was a renowned lay analyst, who, in order to practice, completed a Master’s degree in Social Work at Boston University. For 10 years (1947–57) Ekstein was the Director of the Child Psychotherapy Program at the Menninger Clinic and for 20 years (1957–1977) the Director of the Reiss-Davis Child Study Center in Los Angeles. Bettelheim and Ekstein first met in the mid1950s. ‘‘Oh, you are Rudolf Ekstein,’’ remarked Bettelheim. ‘‘I recently read a paper of yours in the Psychoanalytic Study of the Child. It was a beautiful paper, well-written, and occupied with matters that are of great interest to me. But it was all wrong.’’ (p. 74) It was quintessentially Bettelheim. Thus began a decades-long, warm, collegial, sometimes competitive and only mildly contentious relationship between these two assimilated Viennese intellectuals—Bettelheim, the challenging provocateur and Ekstein the much gentler, bridge-builder. (To quote Ekstein’s advice about psychotherapy—‘‘Allow yourself to speak like a poet, like someone who’s not afraid of a metaphor.’’ p. 73) In addition to childhood memories of Vienna both these prolific writers shared with one another, a passion for lay analysis, a devotion to understanding and treating disturbed children and a fascination with the meaning of fairy tales. Their 22 letter correspondence is included in this book.
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A section of the book features an interview the author conducted with the declining Bettelheim. From the first query, ‘‘Tell me your particular thoughts about old age.’’— Fisher makes it clear that he will dispense with social niceties. And from Bettelheim’s first response—‘‘Don’t reach it!’’—we know that this is going to make for a fascinating discussion. Their conversation includes Bettelheim’s comments about the ravages of old age, the eternal burden carried by concentration camp survivors, and the painful estrangement of Bettelheim from his eldest daughter. The interview is not only about dark subjects, but includes, for example, Bettelheim’s memories of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, including references to Sigmund and Anna Freud, Wilhelm Reich, and Richard Sterba. Finally, Bettelheim reveals the delightful story of how, as an adolescent in Vienna, he first got interested in psychoanalysis. At the time, Bettelheim was competing— with a young man in a military uniform no less—for the affections of a teenage girl. This young man (his identity will be a surprise to the reader!) began speaking with the girl about psychoanalytic topics, including the sexual meaning of dreams. Not to be outshone, Bettelheim purchased every psychoanalytic journal and article he could find, including Freud’s The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. He started reading and never looked back. Unfortunately, the girl’s interest in such matters, and presumably in Bettelheim as well, was fleeting. Fisher shares his own personal struggle in knowing Bettelheim ‘‘a devitalized and exhausted human being’’ (p. 145) in that dark and difficult period before his death. Although Fisher provides us with insight and extensive commentary about the motivations involved in Bettelheim’s depression and suicide, he curiously does not take up contributory factors from Bettelheim’s childhood that have been well documented in his biographies. In the end, Bettelheim was suffering through symptoms of painful and debilitating physical illnesses and his life-long depression was worsening. Perhaps he would have willed himself to endure even burdens such as these, were it not for the recent death of his beloved wife and his inability to reconcile the troubled relationship with his eldest daughter. The final meetings with Bettelheim were emotionally draining for Fisher and left him exhausted. Yet, when he learned of Bettelheim’s final deed, Fisher was shocked and devastated. Nonetheless, he could see that Bettelheim’s suicide for what it was—a noble and courageous act, ‘‘his last dance, his final affirmation of himself as a man.’’ (p. 153). At the book’s conclusion, the author shares with us his fierce rebuttals (one co-authored with Ekstein) to those critics, particularly former patients of the Orthogenic School, who subsequent to Bettelheim’s death went public with stories and accusations highly damaging to
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Bettelheim’s legacy. These included reports that Bettelheim had been destructively manipulative, cruel, and even violent at the school, a school whose venerated history highlighted its loving, thoughtful care to its residents. Fisher castigates the accusers. Why, he asks, did they wait so many years to speak up and then, why only at a time when there was nothing left but a corpse to defend himself? In the years since some of these articles were first published, we know more about Bettelheim’s dark side. Although we now know that there were times he deliberately used a well-timed slap for a therapeutic purpose—and let us not forget he was treating very ill children without benefit of mechanical or psychotropic restraints—we also know that as Bettelheim aged he became angrier, less thoughtful, and more reactive. He, who had been the victim of brutal treatment at Buchenwald and Dachau, no doubt had his own unconscious identification with his aggressors but it is clear that some of his practices were indefensible. Could it be that those vocal former Orthogenic School residents, who knew Bettelheim nearer the end of his career, experienced a more ruthless, more out-of-control school director? Could it also be that while he was alive some of these students felt too fearful to give voice to their own pain and suffering? It remains for present and future students of psychoanalysis to discover Bettelheim and to learn why many from such vastly different walks of life have been so profoundly affected by his work. Yet, this must be done without idealizations. It has been said that Bettelheim was canonized while he lived and demonized after he died. It is a holdover from our childhood to yearn for that perfect parental figure, and when we find a person who seems bigger than life, whose skills and talents are so
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extraordinary, it is easy to become severely taxed and disillusioned when we ineluctably become aware of that person’s flaws. The results of our investigation into the timelessness and profundity of Bettelheim’s insights must not deny or minimize his very real failings. From us Bettelheim would have wanted no less. While at times, Fisher may have understated Bettelheim’s weaknesses and been too strident when he rose to Bettelheim’s defense, this fine book, overall, is a balanced portrait, written with care, style, and thoughtfulness, about a man whose contributions continue to await the widespread recognition they are due.
References Bettelheim, B. (1943). Individual and mass behavior in extreme situations. In B. Bettelheim (Ed.), Surviving and other essays (pp. 44–83). New York: Knopf. 1979. Bettelheim, B. (1966). The ignored lessons of Anne Frank. In B. Bettelheim (Ed.), Surviving and other essays (pp. 246–257). New York: Knopf. 1979. Bettelheim, B. (1967). The empty fortress: Infantile autism and the birth of the self. New York: The Free Press. Bettelheim, B. (1974). A home for the heart. Chicago: Knopf. Bettelheim, B. (1975). The uses of enchantment: The meaning and importance of fairy tales. New York: Knopf. Bettelheim, B. (1982). Freud and man’s soul. New York: Knopf. Bettelheim, B. (1987). A good enough parent: A book on childrearing. New York: Knopf. Pollak, R. (1997). The creation of Dr. B: A biography of Bruno Bettelheim. New York: Simon and Schuster. Raines, T. (2002). Rising to the light: A portrait of Bruno Bettelheim. New York: Knopf. Sutton, N. (1996). Bettelheim: A life and a legacy. New York: Basic Books.
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