ABSTRACT
For those who enjoy reading papers in the context of a background of information about the author, there is much to be said for reading the Afterword of this book first. It is a short piece of autobiography, which throws a special light on the author of these often extraordinary essays. It speaks to queries and theories that grow in one’s mind as one reads them. For example, although I might have guessed at it, I was delighted that Eigen actually says,
How can one call the therapist’s exasperation impatience when it may take years to reach the blow-out-burn-out point? Therapist outbursts can be helpful. It is inhuman for the therapist always to be on good behaviour . .. it is hard to imagine real work without [outbursts].
My pleasure related to the fact that to this day, thirteen years after I first gave the paper “Slouching towards Bethlehem”, people who 322have heard or read it still evince a sort of horrified shock at my description of “an outburst”.