Includes an afterword by the author In the Freud Archives tells the story of an unlikely encounter among three men K. R. Eissler the venerable doyen of psychoanalysis Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson a flamboyant restless fortytwoyearold Sanskrit scholar turned psychoanalyst turned virulent antiFreudian and Peter Swales a mischievous thirtyfiveyearold former assistant to the Rolling Stones and selftaught Freud scholar. At the center of their Oedipal drama are the Sigmund Freud Archivesfounded headed and jealously guarded by Eisslerwhose sealed treasure gleams and beckons to the community of Freud scholarship as if it were the Rhine gold. Janet Malcolms fascinating book first appeared some twenty years ago when it was immediately recognized as a rare and remarkable work of nonfiction. A story of infatuation and disappointment betrayal and revenge In the Freud Archives is essentially a comedy. But the powerful presence of Freud himself and the harsh bracing air of his ideas about unconscious life hover over the narrative and give it a tragic dimension. show more