Sex vs. Survival

Life and Ideas of Sabina Spielrein

By: John Launer

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Paperback | 23 August 2018 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
320 Pages

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19.8 x 12.9 x 1.83

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$30.92

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Who was Sabina Spielrein? Her dramatic life story is most famous for her notorious affair with Carl Jung, dramatised in the film A Dangerous Method starring Keira Knightley. Yet she was a woman who overcame family and psychiatric abuse to become an original thinker in the field of psychotherapy.

This is the first biography to put her life and ideas at the centre of the story, and to examine Spielrein's key role in the development of psychoanalysis and in the rift between Jung and Freud. Drawing on fresh research into Spielrein's diaries, papers and correspondence, John Launer tells the story of a passionate woman who transformed herself from one of Jung's disturbed patients into a leading figure in Western psychology and then the Soviet intelligentsia, before her murder as a Russian Jew in the Holocaust.

Sex Vs. Survival shows how Spielrein's overlooked ideas - rejected by Jung and Freud, but substantially vindicated by later developments in psychology and evolutionary biology - may represent the last and most important stage in the rediscovery of an extraordinary life.

Industry Reviews

'An excellent book and a labor of love, a gripping account of Spielrein's life and work, illuminated by a narrative of contemporaneous historical events' Henry Lothane, Journal of American Psychoanalytical Association

'Spielrein emerges from the murk with more credit than either Freud or Jung. She pushed on with her career at the forefront of child psychology' Spectator

'Launer's well researched book is a tribute to a remarkable woman who, by analysing her own experience of abuse, went on to make a difference to others as a leading child psychologist... This memorable book finally gives her the recognition she deserves' The Lady

'Launer is not just Spielrein's biographer, he is her champion. He gives the neglected female at last the place she deserves in the development of the talking therapies' Jewish Chronicle

'Remarkable, ground-breaking work... With grace and scholarly passion, Launer offers a radical new biography that places Spielrein where she belongs as a figure of major importance in twentieth century thought' Professor Stephen Frosh, Birkbeck College and author of For and Against Psychoanalysis

'This is an absorbing account... Launer clearly finds his subject inspiring, particularly in her attempts to synthesize the work of Freud, Jung, and Eugen Bleuler with the evolutionary thinking of Charles Darwin' Times Literary Supplement

'This wonderful book is the first full-length biography in English of Sabina Spielrein... as John Launer reveals, a highly original thinker whose work is only now becoming appreciated' Professor Michael J. Reiss, University of London

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