(1938). Psychoanalytic Review, 25:442 Cain, James M. Serenade. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. $2.50. This is a story with a bite. As Jacques in Les Thibault notes that a certain book burned his fingers as he read it we may say that this story by the author of The Postman Always Rings Twice makes one's mind tingle with a vivid and enduring quality of reality. It is no novel of passing moment. It is a bit of human history told with intense feeling and entering into a stratum of the unconscious with subtle and rare intuition. A Mexican girl carries the libido plan through to a final issue. The mnemic pattern of the female Id is developed with rare insight; directly, inevitably and tragically. An ambivalent male pattern hides its libido object deviation almost to the end. When finally developed the game is up and the denouement startling and stark as a Greek tragedy. The casual reader is fascinated by the story; the psychoanalyst cannot fail to be intrigued by the artistry shown in the unwinding of the libido economic situation. - 442 -Article Citation [Who Cited This?](19 [This is a summary or excerpt from the full text of the book or article. The full text of the document is available to subscribers.] |
