The Story of Sidonie C: Freud's famous "case of female homosexuality"

by Ines Rieder, Diana Voigt

Redefining one of Freud's Most Controversial Cases.

At age 17, Margarethe Csonka fell deeply in love with a stunning and notorious upper-class courtesan, attempted suicide when she was rejected, and was sent by her parents to Prof. Freud to be "normalized". The attempted "cure" was a failure.
This biography of Margarethe Csonka-Trautenegg ( 1900-1999) offers a fully-rounded picture of a willful and psychologically aesthete. As Freud's never-before-identified "case of female homosexuality", her analysis continuous to spark often heated psychoanalytic debate. Margarethe's( Sidonie's) experiences spanned the twentieth century. Jewish by birth, she fled upper-class life in Vienna for Cuba to escape the Nazis, only to return post-war to a "leaden" city and relative poverty. Fleeing again, she took various jobs abroad, and returned permanently only in old age. The interviews and taped oral histories that form the basis of this book were produced during the final five years of her life. Well researched historical background information supplements the story of Margarethe's journey across time and continents.

371 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Jane Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Other reviews have given the plot, so I won't bother here, other than to say that The Story of Sidonie C reads like a gripping novel interspersed with quite interesting historical asides. But it's a biography, not a novel, and all the "characters" were the real people who moved through Sidonie's very long life. They're filtered, of course, through her lens, since the book is based on five years of in-depth interviews with Margarethe Csonka (aka Sidonie C). I found the preface (Real Names or Pseudonyms) quite useful as a reminder of how firmly based in Sidonie's "reality" the book actually is. and if the reader bears that in mind, it gives even more insight into the character of Freud's young patient. I don't think she fooled Freud, but she did "win" when he acknowledged that her feelings for women were not going to change under his treatment and suggested she find another analyst, perhaps a woman. That didn't happen, but it would certainly have been interesting had she done so. I'd recommend the book to anyone interested in finding out who the anonymous woman in Freud's 1920 essay really was, or in 20th century European history (with some 1940s Cuba thrown in), or in World War II, or queer Vienna before Hitler, or just wants a good read about a complex, strong willed aesthete who always tried to navigate a complex social world on her own terms.

[Danielle Bodnar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography totally immerses us in the life and mind of Sidonie, while providing historical commentary and context where necessary. I totally buy that we got her story according to her own subjective experience. I commend the authors on capturing her point of view so well and on the vivid scenes they depicted. I could see parts of the story being easily adapted to a film or miniseries. The woman led a long, fascinating life that goes well beyond Freud.

My main qualm is that in the English translation, there are many many typos. There probably isn't much interest in this story at the moment, but any new editions should be run past a proofreader before being sent to press. It makes for an unprofessional presentation and distracting for this working writer/editor.

[Stephanie Wiebe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I threw it away