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Book Reviews:
The Journal of Psychohistory V. 25, N. 2, Fall 1997

• Self and Other: Object Relations in Psychoanalysis and Literature, Robert Rogers
  The Origins and Psychodynamics of Creativity, Jerome D. Oremland

• Born to Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics, and Creative Lives, Frank J. Sulloway.

Self and Other: Object Relations in Psychoanalysis and Literature, Robert Rogers. New York University Press, 1991. xiii, 195pp.
The Origins and Psychodynamics of Creativity, Jerome D. Oremland. Madison, Conn.: International Universities Press, 1997. xvi, 200pp.
Reviewed by Andrew Brink

The difficulty with the theory of creativity these days is to decide with which psychoanalytic orientation, or combination of orientations, to begin. Attacks on Freud's drive theory and his alleged abandonment of the seduction theory have thrown psychodynamic theory into turmoil. His considerable contributions to our understanding of the dynamics of artistic creativity have also been subjected to revision. Robert Rogers and Jerome Oremland make brave efforts to enhance our comprehension of creativity. Though they basically agree with each other, Rogers' use of Bowlby's attachment theory is more productive.

Oremland does his reworking from a more classical Freudian framework in which the classic studies of Leonardo and Michaelangelo are retained. He is not one to dwell greatly upon theoretical revisions of Freud. Instead, he shows that in studying Renaissance iconography Freud's insights are still relevant. Oremland insists upon the primacy of the artist's relations with his mother. Yet he discourages psychobiographical exploration. Freud's "pathography' on LeonardoÑcertainly the most astonishing genius of his timeÑpresents him as an emotional cripple. Oremland dislikes such an approach because he does not want to unduly equate pathology and creativity.

This book does not forcefully display its real insights, nor does it help us with difficult cases of creativity such as Sylvia Plath or Jackson Pollock. Where Oremland is implicit about attachment theory, Rogers is very direct and open. Oremland gives excessive attention to D.W. Winnicott's idea of "transitional objects' to acknowledge object relations and salvage what he can of classical Freudian theory. Unfortunately he gives the reader little guidance as to how interpersonal strife becomes the "new objects' of art.

Rogers makes much better use of his illustrative material than does Oremland. He not only offers brilliant critical vignettes of Melville, Camus, Emily Dickinson, and Shakespeare, but reassesses in terms of attachment theory four of Freud's classic cases. He is fully informed about post-Freudian thought, following its implications with clarity. He is well aware of problem areas and pursues promising lines of thought without fear. Considering the controversy over Bowlby's work in the analytic community, Rogers' discernment in 1991 is commendable. Since 1991 work on attachment theory has flourished, bringing further revision and refinement. Were he writing today Rogers would have an even better theoretical framework to draw from than he did in 1991.

In attachment theory, the themes of separation and loss become the essential locus of all anxiety, in contrast to the classical Freudian loci of seduction, incest, castration, and libidinal repression. Rogers may not have clearly seen that attachment theory is closer to learning theory and cognitive psychology than to Kleinian thought and later object relations revisions of Freud's metapsychology. The developmental theory of Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth is simply incompatible with Freud's psychosexual stages and the structural model, as it is with Klein's assumption that infants generate persecutory anxiety from a death instinct. While Rogers remains premature in his hope for a reliable self psychology within which creativity can be explained, he is quite right to emphasize internalized formative relationships (especially centering around childhood object loss) and their imaginative representations. His study is wonderfully open-ended and expectant of insight yet to arrive in an area of immense difficulty and promise.

Born to Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics, and Creative Lives, Frank J. Sulloway. New York: Pantheon Books, 1996. xviii, 653 pp. $30 (Hard cover)
Reviewed by Herbert Barry, III University of Pittsburgh

This book combines attributes of psychohistory and psychobiography. It is psychohistorical because it studies groups of people who support or oppose major social changes. It is psychobiographical because it attempts to predict the choice to support or oppose by each participant on the basis of childhood experiences, especially birth position in the family. The psychobiography may appear superficial because it measures a few attributes of the individuals. A large quantity of people measured compensates for the lack of depth in the analysis of most of the individuals.

The majority of social changes discussed in the book are revolutionary scientific theories that contradicted previously orthodox beliefs. Subsequent chapters are devoted to the Protestant Reformation, originated by Martin Luther in 1517, and the French Revolution, 1789-1794. The general conclusion is that the opponents of revolutionary change are usually the first child in their families while the supporters of revolutionary change are usually the later children in their families. This finding is consistent with a tendency for the first child to be more strongly affiliated with the parents during childhood. The first child becomes an adult who defends the traditional scientific beliefs or political ideology. In accordance with the title of the book, the later children were born to rebel against parental authority and orthodox views.

A total of 28 revolutionary scientific theories are included. The nature of the theory has a differential effect. For example, laterborns were the predominant supporters of Darwin's theory, which was a radical challenge to an established religious belief. Laterborns similarly were predominantly supporters of the theory proposed by Copernicus and Galileo that the sun instead of the earth is the center of the solar system. Firstborns more often support theories that conform with genetic or religious orthodoxy, such as the theories of eugenics and spiritualism.

The Protestant Reformation was predominantly supported by laterborns. Martin Luther, a firstborn, was more conservative than most of his followers. The French Revolution was initially idealistic, mainly supported by laterborns. A subsequent violent phase was initiated by authoritarian firstborn leaders. Middleborn children were more conciliatory than either firstborns or lastborns.

Born to Rebel identifies other variables that modify the effect of birth order. A firstborn child may support a revolutionary theory due to conflict with a parent or to conform with the liberal ideology of a parent. A laterborn child may oppose a revolutionary theory if the age difference from the older sibling is too large or too small, or if a girl's older sibling is a brother. A young child may become functionally firstborn if the older sibling dies or lives in a separate household.

The author devotes most of his attention to Darwin's theory of evolution due to natural selection. The birth order differences are interpreted in terms of Darwin's observation that new species become differentiated and survive by occupying unique niches. Each successive child in the family occupies a different niche in relation to the parents and other children.

Born to Rebel reports an extensive study of several thousand individuals. The text is fluently written, containing many interesting examples with many pictures and graphs. Numerous endnotes provide bibliographical references, statistical tests, and technical information.

Most of the information for the statistical analyses is not in the book but in electronic files containing information on birth order and other attributes of the participants in the revolutions. The information includes ratings of their sentiments by numerous experts. The book identifies only a few samples of individuals and the information about them.

Birth order and the other predictors presumably affect general personality. The book focuses on one expression of personality, the choice of opposing sides in revolutionary scientific theories and other revolutions. The book does not determine whether birth order is as important a predictor of other types of behavior. The information on birth order and other childhood characteristics was obtained from biographical information. Most of the individuals were prominent scientists, religious leaders, or elected representatives to the French Assembly. The book does not determine whether birth order is as important a predictor of the opinions of ordinary people, who are not included in biographical publications.

Frank Sulloway began his career by studying Darwin. He subsequently wrote a biography of Freud. He is a laterborn child who admires Darwin more than Freud. He includes Freudian psychoanalysis only briefly among the revolutionary scientific theories. Whatever may be the effects of the author's personal biases, he has contributed useful statistical analyses of the effects of objectively measured childhood experiences, applied to large samples of people. Born to Rebel convincingly demonstrates important effects of birth order and other early childhood experiences on adult behavior. I believe this research technique will be a highly productive source of future advances in psychohistory and psychobiography.

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