Brother Animal: The Story of Freud and Tausk

by Paul Roazen

A major figure among pre-World War I psychoanalysts, Victor Tausk was perhaps Sigmund Freud's most brilliant pupil--"the most prominently out-standing" in the opinion of Lou Andreas-Salome. Tausk craved recognition for the originality of his work, and a fierce rivalry developed between pupil and mentor. Tausk, who felt a deep and neurotic dependence on Freud, was totally consumed in the struggle. Freud's final rejection of his follower, and the particularly unfortunate manner in which it was carried out, was followed by Tausk's bizarre suicide--and by an official silence that has all but obliterated his name from the annals of psychoanalysis.

Arthur Koestler called Brother Animal "A very important and original contribution to the history of the psychoanalytic movement and beyond that to the history of ideas," and Maxwell Geismar said it was "the best treatment of Freud and that remarkable group of his original disciples that 1 have read. It reads as if Mr. Roazen was right there at the time, inside the inner circle."

Genres: Psychology

280 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 1970

Reviews

[Tijana]

"Brat životinja. Priča o Frojdu i Tausku" je redak zver od knjige. U osnovi je to sažeta rekapitulacija detektivske istrage koju je Rouzen sproveo godinama jureći Frojdove i Tauskove savremenike, kolege, rođake, pacijente, plus rovareći po Frojdovoj zaostavštini i čitajući je list po list, ne bi li ustanovio šta se između Frojda i jednog od njegovih najtalentovanijih učenika tačno dogodilo da bi ovog oteralo u samoubistvo.

Gle čuda: knjiga se stoga čita brzo kao najmasnija trač-hronika o životima prve generacije psihoanalitičara, ali istovremeno je svaki podatak brižljivo dokumentovan. Osim složenog odnosa Frojda i Tauska, obeleženog napetošću između učitelja koji se oseća ugroženo i učenika koji JESTE ugrožen, saznajemo mnogo o tome kako se Frojd inače odnosio prema svojim sledbenicima (kao vođa kulta), kako su se oni držali međusobno (kao sledbenici velikog vođe kulta) i šta se dešavalo kad povremeno sa strane uleti neka druga, treća ili peta harizmatična osoba (pakao).

Deo knjige posvećen je, tako, Lu Salome i, kako da kažem... kad u nečijoj, bilo čijoj, biografiji dođete do dela "a onda se pojavila Lu Salome" znate da će idući period biti obeležen živom vatrom a posle njega prah i pepeo. Rouzen pokušava malčice da omalovaži Lu Salome izjavama u stilu "već je bila u godinama pa je morala da se oslanja na svoj intelekt a ne na fizički izgled" dok opisuje trenutak kad Lu (51) započinje ljubavnu vezu s Tauskom (33, najmlađi i najlepši u Frojdovom bečkom krugu) i to je... urnebesno. Kulminira otprilike ovim: "Žena je lakše u stanju da odvoji svoje ja od svog profesionalnog rada, pa izlaženje u susret Frojdovim željama nije ni na koji način dovodilo u pitanje njen integritet." Ahahaha.

Što se Viktora Tauska tiče, Rouzen gradi nijansiran portret talentovanog, ponositog, ali nestabilnog i istinski nesrećnog čoveka, čiji je nemali doprinos psihoanalizi dugo sistematski potiskivan jer bi priča o tome kako ga je Frojd odbacio bacila vrlo ružno svetlo na dinamiku odnosa u bečkom krugu i na ulogu koju su u Tauskovoj izolaciji i smrti odigrali njegovi prijatelji i poznanici. Dok je možda najslabiji aspekt knjige frojdovska analiza Tauska-i-Frojda koju Rouzen sprovodi iz treće ruke, opis toga kako se mali krug ljudi uzajamno nadahnjuje, podstiče na razradu novih ideja, podržava, a istovremeno se mučki bore za prevlast i spletkare jedni protiv drugih - deluje vrlo uverljivo i proživljeno.

Za čitaoca neupućenog u istoriju psihoanalize i psihijatrije, ova knjižica obiluje raznim iznenađujućim-do-bizarnim i često korisnim uvidima, toliko da na pola teksta razmišljate kako je medicina stvarno izuzetno napredovala u poslednjih sto godina a onda se s lednom stravom zapitate koliko joj je još ostalo da napreduje. I s ovim jednim primerom mogu i da završim: prvi psihijatar (ne psihoanalitičar) koji je dobio Nobelovu nagradu za svoj rad bio je Julius Vagner-Jauger koji je... uveo postupak lečenja sifilisa tako što se pacijent zarazi malarijom pa mu od toga bude bolje. Ili umre. (Vagner-Jauger se kasnije posvetio eugenici i nacizmu pa ga danas, sve u svemu, dosta guraju pod tepih.)

PS
Nisam u prvoj ruci pomenula, a trebalo je: čitala sam srpsko izdanje s predgovorom Ivana Nastovića koji pršti od entuzijazma i upućenosti i slobodnim stilom skreće na domaće teme. Sam prevod je delo Ljube Stojića koji je bio vrlo upućen u materiju, i živahan ako ne uvek i baš najskrupulozniji prevodilac, ali osećam obavezu da napomenem da mi je iskreno drago što u knjizi objavljenoj 1989. bez problema piše "psihijatresa" gde god treba, prosto kao da tad niko nije bacao penu zbog imenice u ženskom rodu ili, naprotiv, nastavka koji nije -škinja, KAKO TO.

[Kate Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a gossipy, catty look at the history of Psychoanalysis and a psychoanalysis of Freud's relationships with his disciples, in particular Tausk. Tausk committed suicide after Freud, through some passive-aggressive signals, rejected him. It is interesting and easy to read but it made me feel uneasy as it analyzes all these people and their relationships through a psychoanalytic lens, rendering them rather inhuman-- reducing them to their selfish motives and neuroses. It definitely piqued my interest to learn more about Freud, as he came off as a wildly egomaniacal, sadistic and cold guy ruling over an intellectual movement of his own invention.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brother Animal is an elegantly written examination of Victor Tausk, an essential yet rarely discussed figure in the history of psychoanalysis. The style of Paul Roazen is mixture between that of a traditional biographer and a more psychoanalytic type. In its extensive dissection the book seems almost repetitive, as the suicide of Tausk and its main element Freud seem to overshadow any concrete discussion on his life and work. I am therefore not the biggest fan of the structure and style of the book, even though I admire the language and unique focus on the motives of the people in Tausk’s psychoanalytic circles. The insistence on Freud’s ”scientific thinking” seems odd from the perspective of a 21st century psychology student, but I’ve always been respectful in my attempts to understand the concepts and contributions of the psychoanalytic thinkers. The book works as a good enough introduction into the inner workings and conflicts of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, even if some prior knowledge is required of the concepts and figures. The main thing I got out of the book was seeing how mental states and disorders were discussed back then.

[Alejandro Teruel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is probably best appreciated -or condemned- by psychoanalysts interested in the group dynamics of Freud's inner circle of disciples from 1912 to 1919. It is certainly not a book I would recommend for the general reader with at most a cursory knowledge of psychoanalysis.

In his first chapter Roazen somewhat misleadingly states:

This is not a full-scale biography of Victor Tausk, but rather an examination of his relation to psychoanalysis.

The book is not really a biography of Tausk -although it does include biographical information- or an examination of his contributions to psychoanalysis -although they are somewhat cursorily dealt with- but an interpretation of the relationship between Freud and Tausk, which, according to Roazen, culminated in Tausk's chillingly thorough suicide and Freud´s equally chilling belittlement and dismissal of Tausk after the latter's death . Though Roazen hints at Tausk's important contributions to psychiatry and psychoanalysis throughout the book, he does not deign explain those contributions until the end of the book. Curiously he does not provide those explanations in chapter five where, given its somewhat clumsy title, Greatness of Achievement the reader would expect them to be, but in the following chapter titled Free Associations.

Although he is not a trained analyst, Roazen cloaks, or perhaps more precisely, shrouds the story of the relationship in psychoanalytic terms, which, given the slimness of the evidence quoted, makes one wonder on the degree to which the author has indulged himself by rushing in with juicy supposition where angels have feared to tread. This is part of why parts of the book read more like gossip than fact. Roazen is decidedly ambivalent about Freud and there are a number of backhanded compliments which suggests that the author got a little too carried away by the oedipal teacher-disciple/father-son framework he constructs for the story.

Freud was certainly no saint and the amazing propensity of psychoanalysis to split into rival schools of thought, strongly suggest that either the theory or the ideology contains memes for sowing dissension or unresolved fault-lines. By focusing in claustrophobic detail on the inner tensions of the group -the petty jealousies, envy, possesiveness, the rivalries, the craving for power and admiration, the insecurities and the need for Freud's approbation-, Roazen has painted a very dark, biased, Old Testament picture of Freud and some of the key members of the first and second generation of disciples: Adler, Jung, Lou Andreas-Salomé, Helene Deutsch and Paul Federn. They either rather passively look on or help Freud drive a Tausken fueled by his own unresolved tragic flaws and neuroses towards his self-destruction, in which the reader, well prompted by the author, almost hears Tausk ask Freud, in a whisper, why he has been forsaken...

[Anja Weber · Rating 5 out of 5]

second time how i have read it this book..how much Fraud was evil for sometimes when somebody has been as scientist very talented and far away of him..Adler, Jung are departed his circle..till the end of life Fraud could not to forgive..But Tausk was one step maybe several as psychiatrist from his teacher in healing and finding the riddle of schizopreny..

[Persephone Abbott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riveting. I couldn't put it down, finished it in one day.

[Zoonanism · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing cast, specially the women in Freud's circle, there wasn't enough
detail about Tausk's 'influencing machines' paper