Psychohistorical Enactments

Review of Daniel Dervin, Enactments: American Modes and Psychohistorical Models. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1996.

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ISBN # 0-8386-3591-1, 356 pages, $49.50

“Although the history of madness plays through the registers of cultural discourse, the madness of history continues to elude the most determined texts.” This is the opening sentence of one of the best books yet written in the field of psychohistory, one that goes far toward elucidating the nature and variety of the irrationalities which play such a prominent role in the history of civilization.

Enactments embodies what is best about our field. It is thoroughly multidisciplinary, as good psychohistory must be, spanning and integrating material from the primary areas of history and psychoanalysis, but also bringing enrichment from literature, the theater, political theory, anthropology, literary criticism, and feminist theory, among others. This is an erudite book: rich, broad, and deep. It is best read and re-read slowly, with time taken to digest both the text and the accompanying notes. The time and effort spent will be well rewarded.

The book starts with the “Introduction” in which Dervin attempts some organizing and systematizing, much as David Rapaport did in 1960 with respect to the structure of psychoanalytic theory (David Rapaport, The Structure of Psychoanalytic Theory, Psychological Issues, Monograph No. 6, [New York: International University Press, 1960]), by introducing the notion that there are six models, or points of view, which can be applied to a particular psychohistorical analysis. The models, as Dervin describes them, are not independent entities. There is a great deal of overlapping and commonality among them. As in psychoanalysis, the importance of the principle of multideterminism is recognized as necessary for a full psychohistorical account of any particular subject matter.

The models are organized around the familiar psychohistorical notions of group fantasy, sacrifice, poison containers, the leader as group delegate, delegate groups (scapegoats), and the centrality of the influence of childrearing practices on the behavior of the adults in a particular culture. However, the notion of enactment, which as Dervin says, has “applications to court, theater, and the clinic,” takes on the role of the central organizing principle for the understanding of events from a psychohistorical perspective.

Following the “Introduction” there are twelve chapters, six appendices, and an excellent glossary of key psychohistorical terms, all written by Dervin. Earlier versions of 10 of the 18 pieces have been previously published, mostly in The Journal of Psychohistory. The articles examine a variety of recent events in American political life from 1968 through 1992 including Watergate, the Thomas/Hill hearings, and the Palm Beach Kennedy rape trial. There is one historical-biographical piece focusing on the significance of parental abandonment on several writers and other creative individuals from the seventeenth century to the present. There are chapters on the meaning of some New Age phenomena and on feminist analysis of patriarchy.

The remaining articles focus on some aspect of psychoanalysis, ranging from an exploration of some acting out at a psychoanalytic conference, to a look at Freud and Virginia Woolf, Freud and Foucault, and an excellent analysis of an interesting exchange of letters between Freud and Jung. Finally, there is a densely-packed, one-page diagram entitled Hitler & Holocaust: Feedback System, which demonstrates the complexity and elegance of a multi-dimensional psychohistorical analysis incorporating and integrating insights from twelve different psychoanalytical and psychohistorical authors.

This is an important book in our field and a must read for psychohistorians.

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