Psychobiography is often attacked by critics who feel that it trivializes complex adult personalities, "explaining the large deeds of great individuals," as George Will wrote, "by some slight the individual suffered at a tender age--say, 7, when his mother took away a lollipop." Worse yet, some writers have clearly abused psychobiography--for instance, to grind axes from the right (Nancy Clinch on the Kennedy family) or from the left (Fawn Brodie on Richard
Nixon)--and others have offered woefully inept diagnoses (such as Albert Goldman's portrait of Elvis Presley as a "split personality" and a "delusional paranoid"). And yet, as Alan Elms argues in Uncovering
Lives, in the hands of a skilled practitioner, psychobiography can rival the very best traditional biography in the insights it offers. Elms makes a strong case for the value of psychobiography, arguing in large part from example. Indeed, most of the book features Elms's own fascinating case studies of over a dozen prominent figures, among them Sigmund Freud (the father of psychobiography), B.F. Skinner, Isaac Asimov, L. Frank Baum, Vladimir Nabokov, Jimmy Carter, George
Bush, Saddam Hussein, and Henry Kissinger. These profiles make intriguing reading. For example, Elms discusses the fiction of Isaac Asimov in light of the latter's acrophobia (fear of heights) and mild agoraphobia
(fear of open spaces)--and Elms includes excerpts from a series of letters between himself and Asimov. He reveals an unintended subtext of The Wizard of Oz--that males are weak, females are strong (think of Scarecrow, Tin Man, the Lion, and the Wizard, versus the good and bad witches and Dorothy herself)--and traces this in part to Baum's childhood heart disease, which kept him from strenuous activity, and to his relationship with his mother-in-law, Matilda Joslyn Gage, a distinguished
advocate of women's rights. And in a fascinating chapter, he examines the abused childhood of Saddam Hussein, the privileged childhood of George Bush, and the radically different psychological paths that led
these two men into the Persian Gulf War. Elms supports each study with extensive research, much of it never presented before--for instance, on how some of the most revealing portions of C.G. Jung's autobiography were deleted in spite of his protests before publication. Along the way, Elms provides much insight into how psychobiography is written. Finally, he proposes clear guidelines for judging high quality work, and offers practical tips for anyone interested in writing in this
genre. Written with great clarity and wit, Uncovering Lives illuminates the contributions that psychology can make to biography. Elms's enthusiasm for his subject is contagious and will inspire would-be
psychobiographers as well as win over the most hardened skeptics.
Psychobiography is often attacked by critics who feel that it trivializes complex adult personalities, "explaining the large deeds of great individuals," as George Will wrote, "by some slight the individual suffered at a tender age--say, 7, when his mother took away a lollipop." Worse yet, some writers have clearly abused psychobiography--for instance, to grind axes from the right (Nancy Clinch on the Kennedy family) or from the left (Fawn Brodie on Richard
Nixon)--and others have offered woefully inept diagnoses (such as Albert Goldman's portrait of Elvis Presley as a "split personality" and a "delusional paranoid"). And yet, as Alan Elms argues in Uncovering
Lives, in the hands of a skilled practitioner, psychobiography can rival the very best traditional biography in the insights it offers. Elms makes a strong case for the value of psychobiography, arguing in large part from example. Indeed, most of the book features Elms's own fascinating case studies of over a dozen prominent figures, among them Sigmund Freud (the father of psychobiography), B.F. Skinner, Isaac Asimov, L. Frank Baum, Vladimir Nabokov, Jimmy Carter, George
Bush, Saddam Hussein, and Henry Kissinger. These profiles make intriguing reading. For example, Elms discusses the fiction of Isaac Asimov in light of the latter's acrophobia (fear of heights) and mild agoraphobia
(fear of open spaces)--and Elms includes excerpts from a series of letters between himself and Asimov. He reveals an unintended subtext of The Wizard of Oz--that males are weak, females are strong (think of Scarecrow, Tin Man, the Lion, and the Wizard, versus the good and bad witches and Dorothy herself)--and traces this in part to Baum's childhood heart disease, which kept him from strenuous activity, and to his relationship with his mother-in-law, Matilda Joslyn Gage, a distinguished
advocate of women's rights. And in a fascinating chapter, he examines the abused childhood of Saddam Hussein, the privileged childhood of George Bush, and the radically different psychological paths that led
these two men into the Persian Gulf War. Elms supports each study with extensive research, much of it never presented before--for instance, on how some of the most revealing portions of C.G. Jung's autobiography were deleted in spite of his protests before publication. Along the way, Elms provides much insight into how psychobiography is written. Finally, he proposes clear guidelines for judging high quality work, and offers practical tips for anyone interested in writing in this
genre. Written with great clarity and wit, Uncovering Lives illuminates the contributions that psychology can make to biography. Elms's enthusiasm for his subject is contagious and will inspire would-be
psychobiographers as well as win over the most hardened skeptics.
Part One Why Psychobiography?
1: The Psychologist as Biographer
2: Starting from Scratch
Part Two The Heart of the Theorist
3: Freud as Leonardo
4: The Auntification of C. G. Jung
5: Allport Meets Freud and the Clean Little Boy
6: Skinner's Dark Year and Walden Two
Part Three Into the Fantastic
7: The Thing from Inner Space: John W. Campbell, Robert E. Howard,
and Cordwainer Smith
8: Darker than He Thought: the Psychoanalysis of Jack
Williamson
9: Asimov as Acrophobe
10: The Mother of Oz: L. Frank Baum
11: Nabokov Contra Freud
Part Four Beneath Politics
12: Carter and Character
13: The Counterplayers: George Bush and Saddam Hussein
14: From Colonel House to General Haig
Part Five Other Methods, Other Lives
15: Going Beyond Scratch
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Alan C. Elms is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of Personality in Politics and other books, as well as many articles in popular magazines and professional journals.
"Methodology, writing skill, and subject all combine in this book
in the most exciting tradition of creative scholarship."
--Extrapolation
"Professor Elms has gotten to the heart of the problem of
biography: how to apply psychological understanding without bogging
down in detail or drowning in theory. With quick wit and splendid
erudition he dissects the lives of major figures in science,
politics, literature, and the arts . . . . A landmark contribution
to the integration of clinical and biographical studies of human
development."--Peter Ostwald, M.D. , author of Schumann: The Inner
Voices
of a Musical Genius and Vaslav Nijinsky: A Leap into Madness
"For those interested in the field of psychobiography or in the
psychological study of individual lives, this is a long-awaited
book that richly fulfills its promise . . . . For those unfamiliar
with the field, it prvides a nearly ideal introduction, containing
a fascinating and, in some cases, unforgettable set of case
studies, along with guidelines for research . . . A pleasure to
read; it is thoughtful, seriously researched, and well
written."
--Contemporary Psychology
"In this magnificent volume, Alan Elms effectively reintegrates
psychology and biography, and brings psychology back home to its
task of illuminating the lives of individual persons. He provides
fascinating psychobiographical portraits of figures as diverse as
Freud, Jung, B. F. Skinner, Vladimir Nabokov, and Isaac Asimov, as
well as sound procedural guidelines, all with a genial touch of
humor. This book may be as important in advancing psychological
biography
as Freud's study of Leonarda da Vinci or Erikson's of Martin Luther
King were in their time."--William McKinley Runyan, author of Life
Histories and Psychobiography
"In this remarkable combination of polemical argument and richly
textured narrative, Alan C. Elms reconceives psychobiography as a
scientific activity, then vigorously supports this bold contention
with a series of acutely observed and fascinating case studies that
range from Sigmund Freud to L. Frank Baum, from Vladimir Nabokov to
Isaac Asimov, from B.F. Skinner to Saddam Hussein."--James E.B.
Breslin, University of California, Berkeley
"Alan Elms writes in first person in order to risk encounter with
the deepest sources of creativity, and he 'comes home' beautifully
from this Orpheus quest. Methodology, writing skill, and subject
all combine in this book in the most exciting tradition of creative
scholarship."--Donald M. Hassler, editor of Extrapolation
"Professor Elms has gotten to the heart of the problem of
biography: how to apply psychological understanding without bogging
down in detail or drowning in theory. With quick wit and splendid
erudition he dissects the lives of major figures in science,
politics, literature, and the arts, bringing into focus what
happened to their families and personalities before they became
famous, and making the subsequent behavior of these people much
more understandable.
The book cuts across conflicting schools of thought--e.g. operant
conditioning and psychoanalysis--to explain how prominent people
may think, feel, act, and suffer. It's a landmark contribution to
the
integration of clinical and biographical studies of human
development."--Peter Ostwald, M.D. , author of Schumann: The Inner
Voices of a Musical Genius and Vaslav Nijinsky: A Leap into Madness
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