Love's Story Told: A Life of Henry A. Murray

by Forrest G. Robinson

Overview

Searching out the private man as well as the public figure, this elegantly written biography follows Henry Murray through his discoveries and triumphs as a pioneer in the field of clinical psychology, as a co-founder of Harvard’s Psychological Clinic, the co-inventor of the Thematic Apperception Test, and a biographer of Herman Melville. Murray’s fascination with Melville’s troubled genius, his wartime experiences in the O.S.S., and his close friendships with Lewis Mumford and Conrad Aiken all come to the fore in this masterly reconstruction of a life. And always, at the heart of this story, Robinson finds Murray’s highly erotic and mystical relationship with Christiana Morgan. Love’s Story Told penetrates to the heart of a brilliant figure in American intellectual life at mid-century, as he dives deeply into the unconscious, testing in work and love the limits of self-exploration.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674539280
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	01/01/1992
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Forrest G. Robinson is Professor of American Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Table of Contents

Loomings

Call Me Harry

Harry Just Emerging from His Teens

Misgivings and Preparatives

From My Twenty-Fifth Year I Date My Life

He Crosses the Rubicon

Mardi Behind, an Ocean Before

No Return through Me

The Pequod Meets the Rachel

Chronometricals and Horologicals

I Will Gospelize the World Anew

The Oozy Weeds about Me Twist

The Case of Murr

Notes

Index

What People are Saying About This

Marshalling a mass of biographical information, Robinson's narrative fuses the public and the intimate, the scientific and the Dionysian, the biographer's quest for Henry A. Murray with Murray's own self-searching quest for Herman Melville. A splendid biography of a remarkably bold and versatile explorer of the human psyche.

David Herbert Donald

This fascinating book combines an astute appraisal of the public career of one of America's leading psychologists with a sensitive interpretation of his most private inner life. Beautifully written, psychoanalytically informed without ever being reductionist, Love's Story Told is one of the best biographies I have read in years.
— David Herbert Donald, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe

Phyllis Grosskurth

This biography does what all good intellectual history should do--bring to life a whole milieu. It is even more absorbing as the story of a highly intelligent man who constructed a personal mythology to justify his own selfish needs.
— Phyllis Grosskurth, author of Melanie Klein: Her World and Her Work

Justin Kaplan

Marshalling a mass of biographical information, Robinson's narrative fuses the public and the intimate, the scientific and the Dionysian, the biographer's quest for Henry A. Murray with Murray's own self-searching quest for Herman Melville. A splendid biography of a remarkably bold and versatile explorer of the human psyche.
— Justin Kaplan, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Mark Twain, A Profile

Editorial Reviews

Love’s Story Told is a remarkable biography, with a startling tale to tell about the man who is its subject, the woman he loved, and the literary and psychological myths that dominated their lives.

New York Review of Books - Alfred Kazin

Marshaling a mass of biographical information, Robinson’s narrative fuses the public and the intimate, the scientific and the Dionysian, the biographer’s quest for Henry A. Murray with Murray’s own self-searching quest for Herman Melville. A splendid biography of a remarkably bold and versatile explorer of the human psyche.

Justin Kaplan

A provocative, beautifully written, ‘gloves off’ examination of connections between the man, his work, and his loves. I found the book profoundly engaging, forcing me to reexamine what I previously knew about the man and his work.

Contemporary Psychology - William McKinley Runyan

This fascinating book combines an astute appraisal of the public career of one of America’s leading psychologists with a sensitive interpretation of his most private inner life. Beautifully written, psychoanalytically informed without ever being reductionist, Love’s Story Told is one of the best biographies I have read in years.

David Herbert Donald

This biography does what all good intellectual history should do—bring to life a whole milieu. It is even more absorbing as the story of a highly intelligent man who constructed a personal mythology to justify his own selfish needs.

Phyllis Grosskurth

A provocative, beautifully written, 'gloves off' examination of connections between the man, his work, and his loves. I found the book profoundly engaging, forcing me to reexamine what I previously knew about the man and his work.
— William McKinley Runyan

Contemporary Psychology

Love's Story Told is a remarkable biography, with a startling tale to tell about the man who is its subject, the woman he loved, and the literary and psychological myths that dominated their lives.
— Alfred Kazin

New York Review of Books

Murray has a secure place in the annals of American psychology by virtue of his contributions as founder of the Harvard Psychological Clinic, his authorship of a classic text, and his hand in development of the Thematic Aperception Test; he is also known for his fascination with and "rediscovery" of Herman Melville. This narrative has as its foundation a large number of personal interviews, about half with Murray himself, and the others with relatives, friends, former students, and various associates. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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