Hysteria: Graphic Freud

Graphic biographies are entering a more mature, nuanced phase, demonstrated by Appignanesi's entry in the Graphic Freud series. He doesn't aim for a thumbnail encapsulation of a man's life work, as in Appignanesi's own For Beginners series. Instead, this book zeroes in on Freud's early career as an ambitious, fame-seeking therapist circling two problematic issues. First are the broad range of psychological and traumatic problems that clueless doctors in the late 1800s diagnosed as "hysteria" in many female patients. Appignanesi's chatty but studious narrative follows Freud from studying in Paris with neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot%E2%80%94whose fixations on theatrical symptoms and the uterus as the cause of all his patients' problems were later debunked%E2%80%94to his later incarnation as an empathetic (though still sexuality-fixated) explorer of the psyche. The second issue, Freud's insistence on the curative and non-addictive qualities of cocaine, is a sharp reflection on medical hubris. The backdrop of Freud's exile in London, after having fled the Nazis, adds a melancholic tone to the thoughtful text and Zarate's expressionistic renderings. (Oct.)