Vienna Triangle

Overview

A young woman named Kate explores her historical connection to the development of Freudian theory and the early beginnings of psychoanalysis in this mystery rooted in the past. Based on real facts concerning the pivotal figures in the development of modern psychology, the complicated lives of Sigmund Freud, his colleague Helene Deutsch, and his rival Victor Tausk are carefully reconstructed to show how their interpersonal intricacies may have led to conspiracy and deceit in the writing of early 20th-century history. When Kate realizes that Tausk was her grandfather, she begins to uncover the details around his mysterious suicide. Only as Kate uncovers the truth is she able to make important decisions about her own future.

Reviews

"Brenda Webster has immersed herself in the lives and the sexual entanglements of an extraordinary set of people, and out of the artifacts they left behind (or that she has fashioned), her characters pose crucial questions about women, war, psychoanalysis—all the unavoidable conflicts of 20th century life among the intelligentsia who shaped their time." —Rosellen Brown, author, Before and After

"A hypnotic narrative about the grand project of psychoanalysis, now 100 years old, and the coiled tensions between Freud and his gallery of disciples; about the clashing constraints of genius and personality and the intractable legacy of despair. There is so much pure knowledge—knowledge about what it means to be human—embedded in these pages that you are torn between keeping up with the story's barreling pace and wanting to linger with some of the insights that are almost casually delivered, perhaps because they became integral to 20th-century culture. A fascinating exposure of both Freud's Inner Circle and the terra infirma of the human psyche." —Lynn Stegner, author, Because a Fire Was in My Head

"A riveting read set amidst the student uprisings of the late sixties . . . a dramatic exploration of family romances inside and outside the circle that so famously gathered around the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. The author makes brilliant use of fascinating historical material as her heroine, on a quest for self-discovery, investigates the intrigues that developed among the master's impassioned disciples—and their descendants." —Sandra M. Gilbert, author, The Mad Woman in the Attic

"In this subtle novel of self-discovery, a young graduate student in the 1960s interviews the aging Helene Deutsch and thereby enters into the world of Victor Tausk, Lou Andreas-Salomé and Sigmund Freud. [Vienna Triangle] takes on the nuclear kernel of psychoanalysis, the Oedipus complex." —Psychoanalysis and History (September 1, 2011)

Author Biography

Brenda Webster is a renowned novelist, a critic, and a translator. She is the author of two literary critical studies, a memoir, and the novels The Beheading Game, Paradise Farm, and Sins of the Mothers. She lives in Berkeley, California.