This book has had a long gestation and I am indebted to
many who helped along the way. To editors who assisted
me in this odd amalgam of fiction, psychobiography and
psychotherapy pedagogy: Marjorie Braman (a tower of
support and guidance at HarperCollins), Kent Carroll, and
my extraordinary in–house editors—my son, Ben, and my
wife, Marilyn. To many friends and colleagues who read
parts or all of the manuscript and offered suggestions: Van
and Margaret Harvey, Walter Sokel, Ruthellen Josselson,
Carolyn Zaroff, Murray Bilmes, Julius Kaplan, Scott
Wood, Herb Kotz, Roger Walsh, Saul Spiro, Jean Rose,
Helen Blau, David Spiegel. To my support group of fellow
therapists who, throughout this project, offered unwavering
friendship and sustenance. To my amazing and
multitalented agent, Sandy Dijkstra, who among other
contributions suggested the title (as she did for my
preceding book,The Gift of Therapy ). To my research
assistant, Geri Doran.
Much of the Schopenhauer correspondence that
exists either remains untranslated or has been clumsily
rendered into English. I am indebted to my German
research assistants, Markus Buergin and Felix Reuter, for
their translation services and their prodigious library
research. Walter Sokel offered exceptional intellectual
guidance and helped translate many of the Schopenhauer
epigrams preceding each chapter into English that more
reflects Schopenhauer`s powerful and lucid prose.
In this work, as in all others, my wife, Marilyn,
served as a pillar of support and love.
Many fine books guided me in my writing. By far, I
am most heavily indebted to Rudiger Safranski`s
magnificent biography,Schopenhauer and the Wild Years of
Philosophy (Harvard University Press, 1989) and grateful
to him for his generous consultation in our long
conversation in a Berlin cafГ©. The idea of bibliotherapy—
curing oneself through reading the entire corpus of
philosophy—comes from Bryan Magee`s excellent
book,Confessions of a Philosopher (New York: Modern
Library, 1999). Other works that informed me were Bryan
Magee`sThe Philosophy of Schopenhauer (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1983; revised 1997; John E.
Atwell`sSchopenhauer: The Human Character
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990); Christopher
Janeway`sSchopenhauer (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford Univ.
Press, 1994); Ben–Ami Scharfstein`sThe Philosophers:
Their Lives and the Nature of their Thought (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1989); Patrick
Gardiner`sSchopenhauer (Saint Augustine`s Press, 1997);
Edgar Saltus`sThe Philosophy of Disenchantment (New
York: Peter Eckler Publishing Co., 1885); Christopher
Janeway`sThe Cambridge Companion to Schopenhauer
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999);
Michael Tanner`sSchopenhauer (New York: Routledge,
1999); Frederick Copleston`sArthur Schopenhauer:
Philosopher of Pessimism (Andover, UK: Chapel River
Press, 1946); Alain de Botton`sThe Consolations of
Philosophy (New York: Vintage, 2001); Peter
Raabe`sPhilosophical Counseling (Westport, Conn.:
Praeger); Shlomit C. Schuster`sPhilosophy Practice: An
Alternative to Counseling and Psychotherapy (Westport,
Conn.: Praeger, 1999); Lou Marinoff`sPlato Not Prozac
(New York: HarperCollins, 1999); Pierre Hadot and Arnold
I. Davidson, eds.,Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual
Exercises from Socrates to Foucault (Michael Chase,
trans., New Haven: Blackwell, 1995); Martha
Nussbaum`sThe Therapy of Desire (Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton Univ. Press, 1994); Alex Howard`sPhilosophy
for Counseling and Psychotherapy: Pythagoras to
Postmodernism (London: Macmillan, 2000).
About the Author
IRVIN D. YALOM is the bestselling author ofLove`s
Executioner, Momma and the Meaning of Life, andThe Gift
of Therapy, as well as several classic textbooks on
psychotherapy, including the monumental work that has
long been the standard text in the field,The Theory and
Practice of Group Psychotherapy.
www.yalom.com
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Also by Irvin D. Yalom
Lying on the Couch
When Nietzsche Wept
The Gift of Therapy
Momma and the Meaning of Life
Love`s Executioner
Every Day Gets a Little Closer
The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy
Existential Psychotherapy
Inpatient Group Psychotherapy
The Yalom Reader
Encounter Groups: First Facts
(with Morton Lieberman and Matt Miles)
Credits
Jacket design by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich
Jacket illustration by Ms. Leander
Reeves/www.kittycave.net