The Forgotten Language. By Erich Fromm. Victor Gollancz. 16/'.

Dr. Fromm defines this monograph as an introduction to the understanding of dreams, fairy tales and myths. It is intended for the student of psychiatry and psychology, and for the interested layman.

After a plea for attention to the importance of these phenomena, in compensation for the extroverted bias of the modern mind, the author presents a definition and classification of symbols which is

lucid, but essentially semiotic. He goes on to define dreaming as "a meaningful and significant expression of any kind of mental activity under the condition of sleep", and to define the unconscious as "the mental experience in a state of existence in which we have shut off communications with the outer world, are no longer preoccupied with action but with our self-experience." Although these definitions would seem inadequate to many psychotherapists, it is clear from Dr. Fromm's further elaboration of his concept of the nature and quality of dream activity, and particularly from the examples he gives of his evaluation and utilisation of dreams in therapy, that his views are less unorthodox than would at first appear.

Freud's theory, as set out in the early work, "The Interpretation of Dreams", is criticised as rigid, and as being too preoccupied with the irrational, infantile nature of the dream content and the

distorting function of the dream-work. Jung's attitude to dreams is described, surprisingly, as one-sided and dogmatic. More

surprisingly in that the criticism is based upon two examples of dreams and their interpretation from "Psychology and Religion", a lecture of limited and specific aim, in a note to which Jung himself states "As dreams have many aspects, they can be studied from different angles."

When describing, with examples, his utilisation of dream material with patients, the author again demonstrates that he has

31

much in common with many other therapists who are not entirely bound by a technique or a theory, and his case-extracts will be found particularly helpful by those who lack personal experience of the analysis of dreams.

The final chapter deals with the understanding of symbolic language in myth, fairy tale, ritual and novel, from the Oedipus trilogy of Sophocles, through Little Red Riding Hood, to Kafka's "The Trial." There is much thought-provoking material here, and many will agree in particular with the wider interpretation of the Oedipus tragedy in terms of the conflict between the patriarchal and matriarchal principles in the development of human consciousness.

This is a highly readable and stimulating book, as can be

expected from the author of "The Fear of Freedom." G.S.P.