The Development of the Legend: Henri Ellenberger

Abstract

A fine example of the process of incorporation of further evidence and the consequent enlargement of the myth can be seen in Henri Ellenberger’s several discussions of the Anna O. case. Henri Ellenberger is best known for his massive study of the development of dynamic psychiatry, the fruits of which he published in 1970 as The Discovery of the Unconscious. Central to this project was the attempt to demonstrate that theories of the unconscious, and dynamic psychologies in general, did not begin or end with Sigmund Freud. Ellenberger’s examination of Freud’s work, the first significant general biographical incursion into Freud’s life since Jones — and arguably still the best — presented many fresh insights and interpretations based on a mass of new research by its author undertaken over many years. A re-examination of the Anna O. case formed a key part of Ellenberger’s attempts to revise the accepted depiction of Freud and his work, although the extent to which his research would contribute to a wholesale alteration of way the case has been regarded was perhaps not anticipated by him at the outset.

Wer das erste Knopfloch verfehlt, kommt mit dem Zuknöpfen nicht zu Rande.¹

J. W. von Goethe, Maximen und Reflexionen (Posth.)