Kurt Robert Eissler (2 July 1908 – 17 February 1999) was an Austrian psychoanalyst and a close associate and follower of

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

Training and contributions

K. R. Eissler took a PhD in psychology at

Vienna University The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public university, public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the Geogra ...

in 1934 and underwent a training analysis with

August Aichhorn August Aichhorn (July 27, 1878, Vienna – October 13, 1949, Vienna) was an Austrian educator and psychoanalyst. Early life Aichhorn's father had had a career in the banking system of Austria, but it ended with the long depression which began i ...

. His first psychoanalytic contribution, an article on early female development, was published in 1939, to be followed by others on

anorexia nervosa Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gr ...

and shock treatment. With the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

, Eissler moved to the States with his wife, fellow psychoanalyst Ruth Selke Eissler. There he developed into a combative supporter of the

Freudian theory Sigmund Freud (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) is considered to be the founder of the psychodynamic approach to psychology, which looks to unconscious drives to explain human behavior. Freud believed that the mind is responsible for both cons ...

. Of his twelve, often heated and extensive books, about half dealt with issues in Freud's life and work, the other half with figures from high culture such as Shakespeare and Goethe. Eissler provided a spirited defense of the

death drive In classical Freudian psychoanalytic theory, the death drive (german: Todestrieb) is the drive toward death and destruction, often expressed through behaviors such as aggression, repetition compulsion, and self-destructiveness.Eric Berne, ''Wha ...

, and introduced the term "parameter" to codify deviations from pure interpretation in the Freudian tradition. He saw creative art as emanating from an asocial element in the artist's mind, and as offering a form of conflict-resolution that need not be shared by the artist themselves. He also considered that some forms of regression were of benefit to the artist in enabling them to break out of "the traditional pattern that he has been forced to integrate through the identifications necessitated and enforced by the oedipal constellation".

The Sigmund Freud Archives

Eissler is also known for his work in establishing and filling the

Sigmund Freud Archives The Sigmund Freud Archives mainly consist of a trove of documents housed at the US Library of Congress and in the former residence of Sigmund Freud during the last year of his life, at 20 Maresfield Gardens in northwest London. They were at the c ...

, a wide-ranging collection of primary material relating to the life of Freud. The collection has not, however, proved uncontroversial. The historian

Peter Gay Peter Joachim Gay (né Fröhlich; June 20, 1923 – May 12, 2015) was a German-American historian, educator, and author. He was a Sterling Professor of History at Yale University and former director of the New York Public Library's Center for Sch ...

commended Eissler on the one hand for his industry in preserving so much otherwise scattered and ephemeral material, but on the other hand challenged (on several occasions) his policy of restricting scholarly access to the said material. Freud historian Peter J. Swales also objected to the restrictions that Eissler imposed. Controversy also surrounded his choice of successor for the Sigmund Freud Archives.

Characteristics

Janet Malcolm Janet Clara Malcolm (born Jana Klara Wienerová; July 8, 1934 – June 16, 2021) was an American writer, journalist on staff at ''The New Yorker'' magazine, and collagist. She was the author of '' Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession'' (198 ...

described Eissler as a "singular mixture of brilliance, profundity, originality, and moral beauty on the one hand, and willfulness, stubbornness, impetuosity, and maddening guilelessness on the other". He was also an atheist.Erwin, Edward. The Freud Encyclopedia: Theory, Therapy, and Culture. New York: Routledge, 2002. "Eissler himself was an atheist who had never participated in a religious ritual".

Selected publications

Articles

* 'On Certain Problems of Female Sexual Development' ''Psychoanalytic Quarterly'' VIII (1939) * 'Psychopathology and Creativity', ''American Imago'' 24 (1967) * 'Death Drive, Ambivalence, and Narcissism', ''The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child'' XXVI (1971)

Books

* ''Goethe: A Psychoanalytic Study'' (1963) * ''Medical Orthodoxy and the Future of Psychoanalysis'' (1965) * ''Talent and Genius: The Fictitious Case of Tausk Contra Freud'' (1971) * ''Three Instances of Injustice'' (1993) * ''Freud and the Seduction Theory: A Brief Love Affair'' (2001)

References

External links

Kurt R. Eissler
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eissler, Kurt R. 1908 births 1999 deaths American atheists American psychoanalysts Jewish psychoanalysts 20th-century American psychologists