The Secret Artist A Close Reading of Sigmund Freud

Arguing that Freud was fundamentally an artist, but that the artistic expression of his desires & fears was repressed, Chamberlain dissects & illuminates Freud's life & thought. Using Freud's own writing on art & the aesthetic theories of thinkers ranging from Nietzsche to Lionel Trilling, Chamberlain explores Freud's own imaginative creations. In sharp prose, Chamberlain aims to defuse the Freud Wars & provides a fascinating re-view of the great thinker, filled with new interpretations of biographical anecdotes & Freud's private letters, as well as of his published writings.

Lesley Chamberlain writes about Russian and German literature and ideas, among other topics. After studying at Exeter and Oxford, she worked as a journalist for Reuters in Moscow before settling in London to write and teach. She is a regular contributor to newspapers and journals in the U.K. and the United States, including the Times Literary Supplement, The Independent and The Los Angeles Times. Chamberlain received wide acclaim for her 1997 book, Nietzsche in Turin: An Intimate Biography