Secret Dreams

by Keith Korman

Fraulein S is an enigma when the young Doctor Carl Jung first encounters her at the Burgholzli Institute in Zurich. Wrapped in her sheets like a corpse, stinking like a goat, she screams like a banshee whenever anyone comes near her. Yet Jung, the disciple of Freud, cures her - and in doing so, falls in love with her. What would the Master say? As Jung unravels her hysteria like the sheets from her head, he finds himself enmeshed in a wild dream that he knows in his bones to be true - a dream that goes back to the beginnings of Western civilization, to the pre-Hellenic campfires where men and women carved Venus stones, worshiped the moon, and enacted a savage ritual of death, sex, and rebirth. Only there can he and Fraulein S consummate their love. In the end, the Pygmalion Jung must betray his creation. And Freud. And himself. Until thirty years later, when Fraulein S, now herself a psychoanalyst in her native Russia, offers him a chance at redemption. Based loosely on the celebrated case of Sabina Spielrein, this brilliant and provocative novel blends the fierce eroticism at the core of psychoanalysis with the speculations of ancient history in a tale of love, betrayal, and the mysteries of the human psyche.

Genres: Historical Fiction

435 pages, Hardcover

First published May 5, 1995

About the author

Keith Korman is an American literary agent and novelist.

Reviews

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel. I read it slowly to try to absorb the rich language and to try to work out the boundaries between dream and reality.

This is a beautifully crafted novel which creates labyrinthine possibilities. Where does reality begin, and end? And what constitutes sanity: are measures relative or absolute?

Keith Korman has written a novel which partially explores the journey of Fraulein S from apparent insanity to her role, some thirty years later, as a psychoanalyst in Russia. The challenge of curing her (a phrase which causes me uneasiness) is undertaken by Jung in conjunction with Freud. The novel is based loosely on the case of Sabina Spielrein.

This sketchy outline simply serves to provide the barest foundation upon which Mr Korman has constructed a beautiful, multilayered novel. It explores human strengths and frailties, and the complex capacity of the mind to protect itself from obliteration. Some of the imagery is confronting, but never gratuitous. For me, this novel is ultimately about triumph, belief and also hubris.

[Kymm · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. It had all the elements of a story that I would normally love. Historical fiction, psychoanalysis in the 1800's, and a female patient. However, I had a hard time with the authors writing and storytelling. I found myself skimming in the first 100 pages and it just never got better for me. I don't know if it was all the dream sequences versus the actual story, or if I just didn't get what the author was trying to say, but I found it tough to read and even confusing at times. I never formed any kind of attachment to the characters and towards the end was just reading words without connecting them to the whole sentence, if that makes sense. I really dislike when I come across a book I so wanted to read only to find out it just isn't all that good. I guess that's why there's so many books and so many opinions of those books. To each their own is a great phrase to use when it comes to literary choices. Happy Reading!