Psychopathia Sexualis: The Case Histories

Abstract

Reviews the book, Psychopathia Sexualis: The Case Histories by Richard von Krafft-Ebing & translated by D. Fall (2011). Krafft-Ebing's classic work on deviant sexuality is both a landmark in psychiatric literature and an historical curiosity. His Psychopathia Sexualis was originally published in 1886 in German. The edition under review is an edited version of the case studies, translated and edited by Dr. Domino Fall, with an introduction by Ms. Terence Sellers, dated 1996/1997 and reprinted 2011. Context for this edition is difficult to establish. Through various collections, Solar Books appears to present classics that inform and drive what is commonly referred to as the avant-garde movement, with an emphasis on Surrealist works. Including the Psychopathia Sexualis as part of this collection appropriates an early attempt to document the deviance of human sexual desire and subsumes it under the rubric of the avant-garde. As context for a book designed to fill a niche in an art/culture library, this edition is interesting. If you wish to read the cases in their entirety, embedded in the context of Krafft-Ebing's theory and clinical approach, and are reading for clinical or academic purposes, you will be better served seeking an original translation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)