Freud, a Novel derives from a BBC-2 project, a 5-hour television series dramatizing the life of Sigmund Freud, featuring David Suchet as Freud. This became a big success on Masterpiece Theater in the US, and was repeated over and over, for 5 years, in the early hours of the morning, presumably for insomniac Freudians. It was introduced by Susan Sontag. The author writes, ‘When Penguin Books came to me asking me to write a novel from the material, not a ‘novelisation’ but a fresh piece of writing, I still wasn’t too sure – I’d spent two years researching the TV series and felt I’d come to the end of the line with it. Then it occurred to me to write it in the first person, as Freud. This gave fresh impetus, and satisfied Penguin Books as well as my own need for a new challenge.’
Critical praise for Freud, a Novel:
Penguin: “A superb imaginative feat, this novel of the great pressure-house of Freud’s life and thought brilliantly meshes psychology, politics and sexuality with a remarkable story. Often in personal crisis, addicted to cocaine, forced to flee the Nazi terror, reviled by his contemporaries, Freud’s struggle to keep the intensity of his vision intact makes unforgettable reading.”
The New York Sunday Times: “Fascinating, a superb analysis… a model of judiciousness, densely packed, skillfully blended.”
