Some Revisionist Notes

Did Sigmund Freud have an affair with his sister-in-law? New evidence seems to suggest that he did. Peter Gay is inclined to agree.

After last year's centenary of her birth, Corey Robin of Brooklyn College agrees with Russell Jacoby that Hannah Arendt's intellectual significance needs re-assessment. It's likely to be a controversial process, as we've already seen.

Nadine Gordimer gave a biographer unlimited access to her papers, but then objected to the work he produced about her. It's a study in the problem of authorized biography, complicated by race and misunderstandings over patronage.