Surviving and Other Essays was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1979. The collection gathers essays written across three decades, organized around Bettelheim’s central preoccupation: what it means to survive — psychologically, not just physically — in circumstances designed to destroy the self.
The title essay, “Surviving,” examines the psychology of concentration camp survivors and critiques the popular narrative of heroic resistance, arguing that survival in the camps was often a matter of moral compromise rather than moral triumph. The essay “The Holocaust — One Generation After” addresses the difficulty of transmitting the experience of the camps to people who did not live through them. Other essays cover schizophrenia (Bettelheim argues for a psychogenic understanding that most contemporary psychiatrists have rejected), the 1960s student revolts (which he interprets through the lens of adolescent rebellion and Oedipal conflict), and the nature of psychoanalytic practice.
The collection reveals the breadth of Bettelheim’s intellectual engagement and the consistency of his central concern: in every essay, regardless of the ostensible subject, the question is the same — how do human beings maintain (or lose, or reconstruct) their psychological integrity under conditions of extreme stress? The answer, invariably, involves the capacity for meaning-making: people survive when they can construct a narrative that gives their suffering significance.
Collecting Surviving and Other Essays
First edition (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1979): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $15–$40
- Very good/very good: $5–$15