Psychopathia Sexualis: The Case Histories

Abstract

Richard von Kraeft-Ebing: Psychopathia Sexualis: The Case Histories. (D. Fall, Trans.). Washington, D.C.: Solar Books, 2011, 213 pp., $16.95. ISBN-13 978-0982046470 Krafft-Ebing's now 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. It wasn't until the 12 that it was published in English. The under review is an edited 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 is difficult to establish. Certainly, Sellers is known as the author of The Correct Sadist: The Memoirs of Angel Stern (Blue Moon Books, 1996) and has a long history exploring and documenting so-called deviant sexuality and sadomasochistic lifestyles spanning several decades. The under review appears to be a reprint of the 1997 Creation Books edition, billed as the 13th of the original Psychopathia Sexualis, for which Ms. Sellers was asked to contribute the Introduction. In her own words, she was, Honored and inspired by the opportunity to write an Introduction to the 13th Edition, published by Creation Books UK in 1997, she was nonetheless disappointed to realize much of her original essay was cut. The most salient points, that Krafft-Ebing's moral stance, though antique, is still valid; that his literary style is more vital and informative than any modern clinical text; his use of prostitutes as colleagues' in his research, are all in this restored version (Sellers, 2008a). For the interested reader, her complete and unedited Introduction is available online at http://www.terencesellers.com/pdf/psychopathia.pdf (Sellers, 2008b). Without access to this restored (presumably the 1997 Creation Books edition), it is difficult to assess what might have been restored when compared to the original English of Krafft-Ebing's work (1922) which is available here http://www.archive.org/details/ psychopathiasexuOOkrafuoft. More difficult to track down was Dr. Fall, the editor and translator of this edition. Her affiliation is not noted on the Solar Books edition. The Creation Books is extremely difficult to track down, not showing on the Creation Books website or in various on-line book sellers. There is one reference to Dr. Domino Fall as a lecturer in psychopathology at the University of London, where she specializes in Germanic studies. However, her name does not appear in current listings of the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies (http://igrs.sas.ac.uk/staff/honoraryfellows.html) or the neurosciences department (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ psychoanalysis/unit-staff/staff.htm). While I do not question the existence of Dr. Fall, there is a point to this somewhat naive exercise in academic detective work. Here we have a reprint of an historical landmark in the psychiatry of sexuality and the credentials of the editor/translator are extremely difficult to verify. As well, the introduction is written, perhaps unexpectedly and certainly unconventionally, by a dominatrix whose collected writings were purchased by New York University in 2005. What does this obscurity and unconventionality mean for the text itself? In examining the Solar Books edition, I read various cases side by side with my own copy of the authorized English adaptation of the twelfth German edition (revised edition) published in 1929 by the Physicians and Surgeons Book Company, New York. Immediately several differences are apparent. The Solar Books truly is only the case studies. Dr. Krafft-Ebing's roughly 59-page introduction, including his classification theory, physiology and anthropological review, is missing. Case 1 in the Solar Books is one paragraph. In the 1929 edition, it is three. Further, reference material including in-text citations and footnotes are missing in the Solar Books edition. …