Inkblots - Hardcover

Searls, Damion

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 147113041X ISBN 13: 9781471130410

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2017

Synopsis

A popular misconception of the controversial Rorschach test, which requires subjects to interpret a series of ten inkblots, is that there are no wrong answers. For professional psychologists, however, who still use the test on defendants, interviewees and patients, certain answers can point to worrying mental health issues. This absorbing ‘double biography†of the Swiss psychiatrist and his inkblots reveals how modernist tendencies, coupled with clinical success, enabled Rorschachâ€s test to move from serious psychological practice into pop culture.

About this title

About the Author

Damion Searls received the 2012 Biography Fellowship from the Leon Levy Center at CUNY to write this book. He also received a 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship. Damion has published nonfiction and is also a well-known translator from the French and German. His translation of Hans Keilson's Comedy in a Minor Key was a finalist for the 2010 National Book Award. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard with a degree in German, and has a PhD from Berkeley.

Review

'Searls restores much of [the inkblot test's] potency in this rich and resonant book . . . Even in the age of alternative facts, there are still right answers, and wrong ones, and the inkblots still ring true' * Sunday Times * `The Inkblots is three books in one: an engaging biography of Hermann Rorschach; a vivid and meticulously researched history of his eponymous inkblots; and a fascinating exploration of the psychology of perception. This is a book that challenges us to consider the relationship between what we see and who we are.' -- Peter Mendelsund, author of What We See When We Read `In this accessible biography of Rorschach, Damion Searls shows us the young psychologist, who died at a tragically early age, making his way among the feuding early 20th century thinkers in psychology, including Freud and Jung. Vividly sketched with many new sources, The Inkblots reveals Rorschach to be a fascinating character: part artist, part clinician. A marvelous portrait.' -- Peter Galison, Joseph Pellegrino University Professor, Harvard University `The life of this fascinating man is a much-needed contribution to the history of psychoanalysis. This is sure to become the standard reference for both Hermann Rorschach's life and times and the history of the inkblot test from his time to ours.' -- Deirdre Bair, author of Jung: A Biography `Who knew? Most of the founding lions of psychoanalysis often seem as petty and infantile as they were (at times) brilliant and inspired. But to hear Damion Searls tell it in this absorbing new biography, Hermann Rorschach was a different sort altogether: humane, empathic, loving, deeply sane, and possessed of a true artist's soul. Searls's account of Rorschach's afterlife is no less fascinating, as every culture that encountered his test seemed to project its own values onto it. In the end, true to Rorschach, Searls locates the heart of being human at the endlessly unfurling intersection of vision and self-awareness.' -- Lawrence Weschler, author of Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees and Mr Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder `A deft, surprising, and illuminating portrait of Hermann Rorschach, and a compelling case that his improbable inkblot experiment should earn him a place in the pantheon of psychology.' -- Joshua Wolf Shenk, author of Lincoln's Melancholy `Very little has previously been known about Rorschach's private life; Searls now fills in many blanks, drawing a more rounded portrait of the Swiss psychiatrist ... Rorschach's genius is apparent, and his famous inkblots ever fascinating.' * Booklist * `A richly detailed, sensitive biography of Rorschach's short life and long afterlife.' * Kirkus Reviews * `What an amazing book. The Rorschach inkblot is like the enigmatic corpse in a mystery novel, and Damion Searls is the passionate and encyclopedic detective who unpacks the intricate and twisted story of how it came to be. By the end, one feels that Rorschach and his test are the key to understanding the whole 20th century. Searls is a wonderful writer: funny, compassionate, and unfailingly attentive to all the magical coincidences (or are they?) and twists of human history.' -- Elif Batuman, author of The Possessed `Damion Searls's book is a refreshing biography of Hermann Rorschach and a cultural history of his famous inkblot test. Rorschach died almost a century ago and this book reveals fascinating details about his life and the enduring controversies regarding the meaning of his inkblot test.' -- Joel E. Dimsdale, author of Anatomy of Malice: The Enigma of the Nazi War Criminals `Searls has painstakingly woven together both the enduring strengths of Rorschach's iconic test and the controversies and convolutions surrounding it, all while capturing Rorschach's distinctive design, to which the inkblots owe their longevity. The book's engaging narrative, born of both detailed research and artistic sentimentality, is a fitting tribute to its enigmatic subject.' -- Erin McKay * Science *

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 147113041X
• ISBN 13: 9781471130410
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416