ABSTRACT
The Sterbas' pathography is written so expertly that the reader is likely to be unaware of the enormous labor expended in collecting and correlating the documentary evidence for their thesis. An investigation of greatness, however, would have to include the response of the masses to the artist's creations, to which the psychoanalyst can contribute nothing more than the evidence that artistic expression of a universal conflict has universal appeal. The central purpose of the work is the psychoanalytic elucidation of Beethoven's personality, particularly as it is revealed in his smothering love for his nephew Karl. It is curious that pathographers never investigate the disturbing influence of genius upon character. In Beethoven's case this influence must have been considerable and may well have been clinically decisive. Despite its small defects, the volume is a restrained and fruitful application of psychoanalysis to biography.
