THE HAUNTING MELODY: Psychoanalytic Experiences in Life and Music

New York: Farrar, Straus and Young, (1953).. (1953).. Very good. - Octavo, marbled rust orange boards backed with a brown cloth spine, titled in gilt on the spine, in a printed buff dust wrapper. The covers are slightly rubbed & soiled with a small white stain on the spine. The dust jacket is slightly darkened and soiled with some light dampstaining to the bottom of the jacket's spine and the top of its rear panel. viii & 376 pages. There is some soiling and a couple of spots of dampstaining to the edges of the book. Very good. <p>First edition.<p>"In this very original book, Theodore Reik solves a fascinating psychologic puzzle: What is the unconscious meaning of the melodies that haunt us? Why do remembered tunes often interrupt our consciously directed thinking? His investigations take the reader step-by-step to the provocative conclusion that the off-stage music accompanying our thoughts and actions has a secret meaning message." -- [Quoted from the dust wrapper's blurb].<p>The prominent psychoanalyst Theodor Reik (1888-1969) was one of Freud's first students in Vienna. His university dissertation on Flaubert's "Temptation of Saint Anthony" was the first psychoanalytic dissertation ever written. His take on Freud's "Haunting Melody" theme, contrasted with that of his mentor in that Reik demonstrated that musical structure can represent feelings and emotions better than words. Thus music can convey moods and unknown feelings that can help in resolving repressed conflict. Emigrating from Germany to Holland in 1934, he escaped the Nazis by then fleeing to America in 1938. Reik went on to found the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis in New York. It was one of the first psychoanalytic training centers.