“An impressively researched, documented, and readable biography” of a woman who played a key role in the history of psychology (Library Journal, starred review).
Who was Sabina Spielrein? She is probably best known for her notorious affair with Carl Jung, which was dramatized in the film A Dangerous Method, starring Keira Knightley. Yet her life story is much more compelling than just one famous relationship.
Spielrein overcame family and psychological abuse to become a profoundly original thinker in her own right. Sex vs. Survival is the first biography to put her life and ideas at the center of the story and examine Spielrein’s key role in the development of psychoanalysis. Drawing on fresh research into Spielrein’s diaries, papers, and correspondence, John Launer shows how Spielrein’s overlooked ideas―rejected by Freud and Jung 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.
“An invaluable resource for understanding Spielrein’s significance, her progressive thinking, and her groundbreaking contributions to the history of psychoanalysis.” —Publishers Weekly
“By the end of Launer’s account, there’s no mistaking what the founding fathers of analysis did to this particular founding mother—and probably to many other women. At least this biography offers Spielrein some retrospective justice.” —Jewish Book World
Most previous accounts of Spielrein’s life have been derived from two books written a long time ago, each inaccurate in different ways.