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Hysterical : Anna Freud's Story by Rebecca Coffey (2014, Trade Paperback)

Better World Books (2764496)

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About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherShe Writes Press

ISBN-101938314425

ISBN-139781938314421

eBay Product ID (ePID)171631031

Product Key Features

Book TitleHysterical : Anna Freud's Story

Number of Pages360 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2014

TopicPsychological, Lgbt / Lesbian, Biographical

IllustratorYes

GenreFiction

AuthorRebecca Coffey

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Weight10.4 Oz

Item Length8.5 in

Item Width5.5 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2013-933277

Dewey Edition23

Reviews"Coffey presents an avidly researched, shrewd, and unnerving first novel that purports to be the lost autobiography of Anna Freud.... Coffey offers some truly shocking disclosures about the Freud family in this complexly entertaining, sexually dramatic, acidly funny novel of genius and absurdity, insight and delusion, independence and loyalty. Illustrated with archival photographs and backed by a substantial bibliography, this is an electrifying, imaginative portrait of an overlooked historical figure of great significance: fascinating, courageous, and steadfast Anna Freud." -- Booklist "Though fiction, Hysterical is structured as an autobiography, with Anna's voice assuming the narration. It's an interesting trick, and one Coffey pulls off quite well--she captures Anna's formality, smart but plain spoken, straightforward to the point of creating emotional distance. . . . Like a therapy session, Hysterical tunnels very deeply into Anna's childhood experiences--thoughts, events, dreams, fantasies--and like a therapy session, the facets of what are revealed are at times disturbing and uncomfortable. Add to all that the inherent struggle between Sigmund and Anna, which twists and deepens as they both age, especially as Anna comes into her sexuality, and you've got a plot so rife with tension it'll make you squirm. . . ." --LAMBDA Literary "Coffey's tale uses Jewish jokes and other humor to humanize the family dynamic, and delicately delineate the tension between Anna's devotion to her father and her enduring attachment to Dorothy Burlingham, an heir to the Tiffany fortune. ... [I]n this fictional version, Anna confesses: "Of course in my account to Papa, I elaborated and lied. Personally, I think that honesty in psychoanalysis is over-rated." -- O, The Oprah Magazine "Completely absorbing and entirely believable, Hysterical is both a lovely work and a treasure. This is the book we all wish Anna Freud had had the courage to write." --Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author and former Projects Director of The Freud Archives "...[A] wonderfully insightful fictional glimpse into the Freud family dynamic and, most notably, its impact on Sigmund's theories about lesbianism. How did Freud père receive the announcement that the daughter to whom he was closest--his right-hand girl and protégé--loved women? How did he deal with her long domestic partnership with another woman? Coffey's presentation of what may have happened between Sigmund and Anna is nuanced, intelligent, and wonderfully persuasive." --Lillian Faderman, author of Naked in the Promised Land: A Memoir "Rebecca Coffey's imagination knows no bounds. She makes you believe this is exactly the way it all happened. HYSTERICAL is sad, funny, painful, strange, outrageous, and disturbing. If we can't have Anna's diaries, this is the next best thing." --Ellen Bass, author of The Courage to Heal "Moving, irreverent, often very funny, and a remarkable tour de force, Hysterical lets us eavesdrop at the keyhole of the Freud family. And, oh, what we learn!" --Leonard Foglia, Broadway director of Thurgood, Wait Until Dark, and Master Class, Coffey presents an avidly researched, shrewd, and unnerving first novel that purports to be the lost autobiography of Anna Freud.... Coffey offers some truly shocking disclosures about the Freud family in this complexly entertaining, sexually dramatic, acidly funny novel of genius and absurdity, insight and delusion, independence and loyalty. Illustrated with archival photographs and backed by a substantial bibliography, this is an electrifying, imaginative portrait of an overlooked historical figure of great significance: fascinating, courageous, and steadfast Anna Freud.' -- Booklist 'Though fiction, Hysterical is structured as an autobiography, with Anna's voice assuming the narration. It's an interesting trick, and one Coffey pulls off quite well--she captures Anna's formality, smart but plain spoken, straightforward to the point of creating emotional distance. . . . Like a therapy session, Hysterical tunnels very deeply into Anna's childhood experiences--thoughts, events, dreams, fantasies--and like a therapy session, the facets of what are revealed are at times disturbing and uncomfortable. Add to all that the inherent struggle between Sigmund and Anna, which twists and deepens as they both age, especially as Anna comes into her sexuality, and you've got a plot so rife with tension it'll make you squirm. . . .' --LAMBDA Literary 'Coffey's tale uses Jewish jokes and other humor to humanize the family dynamic, and delicately delineate the tension between Anna's devotion to her father and her enduring attachment to Dorothy Burlingham, an heir to the Tiffany fortune. ... [I]n this fictional version, Anna confesses: 'Of course in my account to Papa, I elaborated and lied. Personally, I think that honesty in psychoanalysis is over-rated.' -- O, The Oprah Magazine 'Completely absorbing and entirely believable, Hysterical is both a lovely work and a treasure. This is the book we all wish Anna Freud had had the courage to write." --Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author and former Projects Director of The Freud Archives '...[A] wonderfully insightful fictional glimpse into the Freud family dynamic and, most notably, its impact on Sigmund's theories about lesbianism. How did Freud père receive the announcement that the daughter to whom he was closest--his right-hand girl and protégé--loved women? How did he deal with her long domestic partnership with another woman? Coffey's presentation of what may have happened between Sigmund and Anna is nuanced, intelligent, and wonderfully persuasive.' --Lillian Faderman, author of Naked in the Promised Land: A Memoir 'Rebecca Coffey's imagination knows no bounds. She makes you believe this is exactly the way it all happened. HYSTERICAL is sad, funny, painful, strange, outrageous, and disturbing. If we can't have Anna's diaries, this is the next best thing.' --Ellen Bass, author of The Courage to Heal "Moving, irreverent, often very funny, and a remarkable tour de force, Hysterical lets us eavesdrop at the keyhole of the Freud family. And, oh, what we learn!" --Leonard Foglia, Broadway director of Thurgood, Wait Until Dark, and Master Class, "Completely absorbing and entirely believable, HYSTERICAL is both a lovely work and a treasure. This is the book we all wish Anna Freud had had the courage to write." -Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson , author The Assault on Truth: Freud's Suppression of the Seduction Theory and former Projects Director of The Freud Archives " â€¦ [A] wonderfully insightful fictional glimpse into the Freud family dynamic and, most notably, its impact on Sigmund's theories about lesbianism. How did Freud pÃ¨re receive the announcement that the daughter to whom he was closest-his right-hand girl and protÃ©gÃ©-loved women? How did he deal with her long domestic partnership with another woman? Coffey's presentation of what may have happened between Sigmund and Anna is nuanced, intelligent, and wonderfully persuasive." - Lillian Faderman , author of Naked in the Promised Land: A Memoir "â€¦[A]bsolutely fascinating and interesting. Reading it brought up a lot of tears because of the memories it evoked about the people and the time. I was so happy to have Freud's relationship with his daughter revealed." -Sophie Templer , 95-year-old daughter of controversial Freudian psychoanalyst Otto Gross "Moving, irreverent, often very funny, and a remarkable tour de force, HYSTERICAL lets us eavesdrop at the keyhole of the Freud family. And, oh, what we learn!" -Leonard Foglia, Broadway director of Thurgood, Wait Until Dark , and Master Class "Rebecca Coffey's imagination knows no bounds. She makes you believe this is exactly the way it all happened. HYSTERICAL is sad, funny, painful, strange, outrageous, and disturbing. If we can't have Anna's diaries, this is the next best thing." -Ellen Bass, author of The Courage to Heal

Dewey Decimal813/.6

SynopsisYoung Anna Freud is sexually attracted to other girls. Unfortunately, in the early 20th century, lesbianism is still widely considered to be a symptom of "hysteria," a psychological disorder marked by paralysis and other extreme symptoms. Anna's father, Sigmund Freud, has long believed that fathers are at fault for any daughter's lesbianism. But he also takes pride in being the world's leading expert on hysteria, so he can't ignore what he believes to be the screamingly crazy roots of Anna's "disorder." Unfortunately for Anna (and women everywhere), Sigmund believes that any and all hysteria is caused when a woman's innate and unconscious desire to be sexually violated goes unmet. Worried about her lack of male suitors, Sigmund psychoanalyzes Anna to ready her for a womanly life. In analysis, Anna tries hard to accept her father's ideas. But when she meets Dorothy Burlingham, heir to the Tiffany fortune, she can't help but fall in love. The novel HYSTERICAL is Anna's fact-based, full-life story of father-daughter conflict, sexual coming of age, and life with Dorothy. Author Rebecca Coffey is an award-winning journalist, documentary filmmaker, and radio commentator. Also a humorist, she is the author of Nietzsche's Angel Food Cake: And Other "Recipes" for the Intellectually Famished (Beck & Branch, 2013) and Science and Lust (Beck & Branch, 2018)., Imagine growing up smart, ambitious, and queer in a home where your father Sigmund Freud thinks that women should aspire to be wives and calls lesbianism a gateway to mental illness. He also says that lesbianism is always caused by the father, and is usually curable by psychoanalysis. Then he analyzes you. Ultimately Anna Freud loved Dorothy Tiffany Burlingham (heir to the Tiffany fortune) for 54 years. They raised a family together and became psychoanalysts in their own right, specializing in work with children. But first Anna had to navigate childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood in a famous family where her kind of romantic longings were considered dangerous. What was it like to grow up the lesbian daughter of "the great Sigmund Freud"? Aside from Anna's sexuality and from her father's intrusive psychoanalysis of her, what were the Freud family's most closely closeted skeletons? What is it about the birth of psychoanalysis that even today's psychoanalysts would prefer to keep secret? How did Anna defy her father so thoroughly while continuing to love him and learn from him? Weaving a grand tale out of a pile of crazy facts, Hysterical: Anna Freud's Story lets the pioneering child psychologist freely examine the forces that shaped her life.

LC Classification NumberPS3553.O363H97 2014