On the basis of a close reading of Fenichel's circulars, the author broadly traces the intellectual and (in part) biographical development undergone (partly involuntarily) by Fenichel between 1934 (when he started distributing the circulars) to 1945 (when he discontinued them), i.e. first in European, then (from 1938) in American exile. The author assesses the circulars as the materialization of a magnificently ambitious attempt on Fenichel's part to achieve a synthesis between psychoanalysis; sociology and history (as well as other disciplines). The excursus on Fenichel and Elias underlines the initial intellectual kinship between these two representatives of 'sociological psychoanalysis' (Fenichel) and 'psychoanalytic sociology' (Elias).

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psychoanalytic theory cultural anthropology Review psychoanalysis literature history human sociology