The White Hotel [antikvár]

Author's Note One could not travel far in the landscape of hysteria—the "terrain" of this novel—without meeting the majestic figure of Sigmund Freud. Freud becomes one of the dramatis personae, in fact, as discoverer of the great and beautiful modern myth of psychoanalysis. By myth, I mean a poetic, dramatic expression of a hidden truth; and in placing this emphasis, I do not intend to put into question the scientific validity of psychoanalysis. The role played by Freud in this narrative is entirely fictional. My imagined Freud does, however, abide by the generally known facts of the real Freud's life, and I have sometimes quoted from his works and letters, passim. The letters of the Prologue, and all the passages relating to psychoanalysis (including Part III, which takes the literary form of a Freudian case history), have no factual basis. Readers not familiar with the genuine case histories—which are masterly works of literature, apart from everything else-are referred to volumes 3, 8 and 9 ofthe Pelican Freud Ubrary (Penguin Books, 1974, 1977, 1979). D.M.T.