Book Description

Topsy is a psychoanalytic tale of the effects of a dog on its owner; the analyst is thegreat Marie Bonaparte. Only after being told that her dog had cancer did she realie theattachment she developed to Topsy. She describes the emotions she experienced during the time ofTopsy's illness and subsequent healing. Written in France and Greece at the onset of World WarII, the story of Topsy's cancer clearly is intended to convey the ills of Europe at that time. Bonaparte's relationship with her dog reveals her own fearsabout aging, dying, being alone, as well as the uncertainty of the political situation. As shetells her story, Bonaparte is reminded of the experience of her father, who also suffered fromcancer. Topsy, while not written as a scientific study, provides insight into thepsychoanalytical effects of relationships between humans and animals. It tells us much about oneof psychotherapy's founding personages as well as the members of her professional circle in acritical period of European history. In the newintroduction, Gary Genosko reflects on Sigmund Freud's own affection for, and use of, dogs inhis analyses. He goes on to describe the relationship between Freud and Bonaparte and how dogsplayed a significant part in that companionship. Topsy will be of interest to psychologists,psychiatrists, and those who love, and have been loved by dogs. Marie Bonaparte(1882-1962) was a renowned French psychoanalyst whose best-known book was APsychoanalytic Study of Edgar Allen Poe. She also translated many of Freud'sbooks into French. GaryGenosko is a researcher affiliated with the McLuhan Program in Culture andTechnology at the University of Toronto in Canada, and the department of Sociology, Goldsmith'sCollege, University of London, England.