Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis II 1921 2.djvu/89

 BOOK REVIEWS 245

through which so many people pass during the years of adolescence. He insists that any harm resulting- from onanistic practices is due far more to the mental conflicts accompanying them than to the practices themselves. Of special interest, and containing many original comments, is the chapter on Ethical Considerations, where an attempt is made to approximate Catholic teaching with the conclusions of modern psycho- logy.

In conclusion, the book is one that can be cordially recommended to all those whose concern it is to deal with the sexual struggles of adolescence.

We would suggest that in a future edition the author defines the term 'onanism' on page 15.

E.J.

Margaret Fuller, A Psychological Biography. By Catharine An- thony. (Harcourt, Brace and Howe. Pp. 220.)

We are here presented with a most interesting subject of biography — even though one intimately known to a wide public by now — and the method of dealing with it from a psychological standpoint is, of course, a valuable one. It is much to be hoped that in the future we shall have more work of this kind: character, either taken from life or from creative art, examined from the psycho-analytical standpoint, such as has already been done in a few notable instances (e. g. Leonardo da Vinci by Freud, Hamlet by Ernest Jones, ^tc).

The present volume certainly gives us Margaret Fuller in a vivid and interesting aspect, with the warmth of an advocate, as the author frankly admits in her preface — but it is none the worse for that. Miss Anthony has the gift of vivid portraiture, of descriptive imagery, and of warm feeling. Margaret's struggles in her love and ambition are well brought before us, but there the matter ends. There is hardly any psychological treatment — certainly no psycho-analytical application — throughout the book, so that it remains something of a disappointment, in view of the expectations aroused by the title. Her intellectual theories, her love-impulses, her homosexuality, her leanings towards men younger than herself, her delight in suffering — all these things might well be illuminated by the searchlight of psycho-analytic investigation. Perhaps another country-woman will take up the task.

Barbara Low.

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