The Schopenhauer Cure

a novel
Irvin D. Yalom

'Yalom’s melding of philosophy, pedantry, psychiatry and literature result in a surprisingly engaging novel of ideas.'

San Francisco Chronicle

‘A beautifully wrought tale of a therapy group’s final year and a moving debate about the end of life.’

Kirkus Reviews

View all reviews

'Yalom’s enthusiasm is contagious. And he certainly knows how to tell a page-turning story.'

Los Angeles Times

From novelist and master psychotherapist Irvin Yalom, author of Lying on the Couch and When Nietzsche Wept, comes the world's first accurate group-therapy novel, a mesmerizing story of two men's search for meaning.

Julius Hertzfeld is a distinguished psychotherapist with an impressive career. But when suddenly confronted with his own mortality, he is forced to reexamine his life and work. Has he really made an enduring difference to the lives of his patients? And what about those he's failed what has happened to them?

His attempt to make sense of the past places him on a collision course with former patient Philip Slate a handsome but arrogant and misanthropic sex addict whom he had treated, unsuccessfully, 23 years before. In a profound challenge to Julius's professional status, Philip claims to have cured himself by reading the works of dour philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Furthermore, he has become a philosophical counsellor, and asks Julius to act as his professional supervisor in order to obtain a license to practise.

Reluctantly, Julius agrees, and they strike a Faustian bargain one which threatens to undermine his career and the well-being of his patients, but also brings with it the potential for extraordinary personal change through a unique combination of psychotherapy and philosophy.

In The Schopenhauer Cure, Irvin Yalom elegantly weaves the true story of Schopenhauer's life and influence throughout the narrative, knitting together fact and fiction to form a compelling and poignant tale.

'Yalom’s melding of philosophy, pedantry, psychiatry and literature result in a surprisingly engaging novel of ideas.'

San Francisco Chronicle

‘A beautifully wrought tale of a therapy group’s final year and a moving debate about the end of life.’

Kirkus Reviews

View all reviews

Details

Format:Paperback

Size:

Extent:368pp

ISBN (13):9781921215728

RRP:$35.00

Pub date:7 Jan 2008

Rights Held: ANZ

High-res cover:Download Image

AWARDS

CATEGORIES / tags

AUTHOR

Irvin D. Yalom

Irvin D. Yalom is emeritus professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. The author of two definitive psychotherapy textbooks, Dr Yalom has written several books for the general reader, including Love’s Executioner, Staring at the Sun, Creatures of a Day, and Becoming Myself; and the novels When Nietzsche Wept; The Schopenhauer Cure, and The Spinoza Problem. Dr Yalom lives in Palo Alto and San Francisco, California.