JAMES W. ANDERSON’s
PSYCHOBIOGRAPHY: IN SEARCH OF THE INNER LIFE

BOOK CELEBRATION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

DECEMBER 7, 2024, SATURDAY (12-3PM EST)
[Virtual room opens at 11:30am EST]
Attendance is FREE, but RSVP is required (see the form below)

Registration form

Join us in celebrating the publication of PSYCHOBIOGRAPHY: IN SEARCH OF THE INNER LIFE (Oxford University Press) by JAMES W. ANDERSON, an accomplished psychobiographer, researcher, professor, clinical psychologist, and psychoanalyst. In this special event, Dr. Anderson will be joined by four distinguished scholars to explore and discuss key themes from his groundbreaking work.

Each presenter will offer unique insights into the book’s central topics, followed by dedicated time for audience questions and commentary. The event will conclude with an engaging general discussion. Our distinguished panel of discussants includes:

Ruthellen Josselson, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology at The Fielding Graduate University and founding Editor of Qualitative Psychology. Dr. Josselson has authored nine influential books, including her acclaimed work Paths to Fulfillment: Women’s Search for Meaning and Identity.

Joseph G. Ponterotto, PhD, Professor of Counseling at Fordham University and a leading voice in psychobiographical research. His notable works include The Psychobiographer’s Handbook, A Psychobiography of Bobby Fischer, and A Psychobiography of John F. Kennedy, Jr.

William McKinley Runyan, PhD, Professor Emeritus at University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Runyan authored the seminal text Life Histories and Psychobiography and edited Psychology and Historical Interpretation, works that have shaped the field of psychobiography.

Christine Sterkel, M.D., distinguished Faculty Member at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Rush University Hospital.

What is this book about?

Biographies are at their best when they convey that the subject is a three-dimensional human being who possesses an inner life.  Hence psychology is essential to the writing of high-quality biographies.  But psychology is vulnerable to being misused.  All too often psychology has been weaponized to attack biographical subjects, or dogmatic psychological theories are foisted on subjects so these people look like cardboard figures. Psychobiography: In Search of the Inner Life examines what is necessary for writing first-rate psychobiography.  Dr. Anderson recommends using psychology to open up, not close down; to provide new questions, not easy answers; to complicate, not simplify. 

His lively inquiry into the art of biography–with its vignettes about people such as Oprah Winfrey, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Henry James, Simone de Beauvoir, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mohandas Gandhi, Edith Wharton, and Anaïs Nin–will appeal to all readers who are curious about the lives of fascinating personages.

PSYCHOBIOGRAPHY: IN SEARCH OF THE INNER LIFE
(ISBN 9780197602096)

The Table of Contents:

Chapter 1 Introduction: In Search of the Inner Life
Chapter 2 Research, the Foundation of Psychobiography
Chapter 3 Research Materials of Special Value to the Psychobiographer
Chapter 4 The Relationship of Psychobiographers with Their Subjects
Chapter 5 The Relevance of Culture to Psychobiography
Chapter 6 Use Psychological Theory, Don’t Let It Use You
Chapter 7 Narrative Identity for Psychobiographers (written with Dan P. McAdams)
Chapter 8 Analysis and Interpretation in Psychobiography
Chapter 9 Psychobiography of Literary Artists
Chapter 10 Executing Psychobiography: The Case of William and Henry James
Chapter 11 Why Might a Psychobiography Go Wrong?
References
Index

What do we know about this book already? Endorsements:

A terrific exposition of a complex field. I’m frankly stunned by the range of examples James Anderson uses—and the detail and richness of the various points made along the way. It’s clear he’s spent an intellectual lifetime mastering this domain. The prose is crisp and bright; the readings of people astute. — William Todd Schultz, PhD. Professor of Psychology, Pacific University. Author of Tiny Terror: Why Truman Capote Almost Wrote Answered Prayers and An Emergency in Slow Motion: The Inner Life of Diane Arbus. Editor of the Handbook of Psychobiography.

Anyone interested in the synergy between individual psychology, culture, and the historical moment should read this engaging meditation on psychohistory. With examples as diverse as Abraham Lincoln, Edith Wharton, and Donald Trump, Anderson explores how personal psychologies interact with context and era. Because his writing is open-hearted, lively, and utterly unpretentious, he has produced a real page-turner for readers who are fascinated by the reciprocal intersections among personality, creativity, literature, and politics. — Nancy McWilliams, Visiting Professor, Rutgers University. Author of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalytic Case Formulation.

Biographies and their first cousin, memoirs, cascade around us. Most fail the smell test of intellectual or psychological authenticity. James Anderson, in this excellent and welcome book, provides valuable criteria for evaluating studies that probe the self. That is no mean feat. It was once the case that the world scorned psychobiography. Now everyone does it on the sly. We need the wise counsel of James Anderson to guide the perplexed. — Charles B. Strozier, PhD, Professor of History, Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Author of Lincoln’s Quest for Union and Heinz Kohut: The Making of a Psychoanalyst. 

James Anderson’s book makes a compelling case for the revitalization of psychobiography, a genre that has sometimes been accused of formulaic applications of dogmatic psychoanalytic concepts. By contrast, Anderson’s wide-ranging study counsels the use of contemporary, post-Freudian theory, sensitivity to culture, and understanding of authors’ relationships with the people they write about. The result is an approach that gets at the complexities of inner life. Among many contributions to the understanding of culture, Psychobiography: In Seach of the Inner Life offers valuable insights into literary artists and the psychodynamics of creativity. — Maud Ellmann, PhD, Professor of English Literature, University of Chicago. Author of The Nets of Modernism: Woolf, James, Joyce, and Freud.  Editor of Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism.

As James Anderson suggests, it is time for an up-to-date book on the use of psychology in biography. He has provided a great one. It is both engaging and informative. It will prove an invaluable resource to both writers and readers of biography. — Alan C. Elms PhD, Professor of Psychology, University of California, Davis. Author of Uncovering Lives: The Uneasy Alliance of Biography and Psychology.

About the Author:

James William Anderson, PhD, is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University. There he teaches courses on Personality Psychology and the Psychology of Film. He also serves on the faculty of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute. He received degrees from Princeton University, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago. For several decades, as a licensed clinical psychologist, he has conducted psychotherapy.

In his research, he focuses on psychobiography and has published pieces on William and Henry James, Abraham Lincoln, Edith Wharton, Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, D. W. Winnicott, Woodrow Wilson, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

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