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Diary of a Fallen Psychoanalyst: The Work Books of Masud Khan 1967-1972

Editor : Linda Hopkins, Editor : Steven Kuchuck

Reviews and Endorsements

Here’s an unusual read, an incredible opportunity for access to the inner world of a brilliant and controversial psychoanalyst. Hopkins and Kuchuck’s scholarship and persistence against the odds bring us into Masud Khan’s private self as revealed in his diaries ... This book will be a treasure trove for scholars of mid-twentieth century psychoanalysis. As for the rest of us, who wouldn’t want to read the diaries of a man who 'dares to say and think anything'?
Jill Savege Scharff, M.D., FABP, International Psychotherapy Institute and co-author of The Interpersonal Unconscious, Winner of The Sigourney Award 2021

Psychoanalysts have long been aware of the fact that extraordinary intelligence and alarming corruption can co-exist in the same individual. However, the case of Masud Khan is truly extraordinary. He combined erudition and charm with thoroughgoing contempt. The psychoanalytic profession owes a deep debt of gratitude to Steven Kuchuck and Linda Hopkins, who systematically collected Khan's papers so that we can study them for ourselves.
Glen O. Gabbard, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine

Although a brilliant and charming man, and an excellent horse rider, [Masud Khan] also caused great distress to many colleagues. These beautifully edited Work Books offer a rare glimpse into the mind of a complicated psychoanalyst. We have much to learn from Khan about how to be a human being and, moreover, how not to be.
Professor Estela V. Welldon, Emeritus Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy, Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust

"What a privilege to have access to Masud Khan's Work Books. They are raw, insightful, sharply charged perceptions of life in progress filled with social commentary, psychoanalytic vision, irony and horror. His criticism of colleagues, society and world pull no punches, yet a profound sense of Beauty and appreciation of the best in us come through. He has a special gift for 'nooks and crannies' of experience as well as pulsating depths. Thanks to Linda Hopkins and Steven Kuchuck for the treasure they helped mediate.
Michael Eigen, Ph.D., author of The Challenge of Being Human, The Sensitive Self and The Psychoanalytic Mystic

Jacques Lacan said famously that the psychoanalyst must be 'a man of letters.' Masud Khan was as literate as any analyst of his time, and readers interested in the history of psychoanalysis will find a treasure trove here. Following a fascinating introduction by the editors, the Work Books reveal Khan at his vituperative best, with flashes of prescience and wit. They remind us, too, of things we might like to forget about our impossible profession.
Deborah Anna Luepnitz, Ph.D., Institute for Relational Psychoanalysis of Philadelphia

Khan's workbooks are fascinating. They are strangely akin to a stream of consciousness in which the writer argues with his longings, hubris, disappointments, hurts, exuberances while engaging with the key figures in psychoanalysis. This crucial period in the field expands its understandings of the private self – of which Khan was a prime theorist – and of the quality of relatedness. We are introduced to his wide philosophical readings, his knowledge of art and his struggles with friends, with his wife and with psychoanalytic colleagues. Compelling.
Susie Orbach, psychoanalyst and author of The Impossibility of Sex and Bodies

Linda Hopkins and Steven Kuchuck’s indefatigable commitment and careful scholarship introduce us to Khan's long-awaited workbooks. Their meticulous scholarship clarifies Khan's sometimes confusing allusions while also protecting the integrity of the document. This volume gives us a fascinating window into – among many things – Winnicott's own thinking and personhood; Khan's complex and often contradictory psychology; British psychoanalytic politics; Khan's personal relationships with many prominent psychoanalysts ... along with a window into the development of Khan's thinking. A delicious, provocative, sometimes disturbing, and utterly satisfying volume.
Joyce Slochower, Ph.D., ABPP

In this unique record of grandiose omnipotence mixed with true scholarship, Khan exposes far more of himself than he realizes. There are so many intriguing theories here. Alas, his intellectual musings do not translate into the gold of insight: he remains trapped in a fantasy of his superiority and the reality of solipsism; despite all his cleverness and knowledge, without self-awareness.
Oliver James, Relational Psychotherapist, The Bowlby Centre

Hopkins and Kuchuck have managed to produce a compilation of writing that is cohesive and captivating, even with having to heavily edit out all of Khan’s clinical work and providing pointers and explanations so that those new to Khan’s work can drop instantly into Khan’s world. [...] Every reader of this book will be immensely grateful to Hopkins and Kuchuck for their painstaking work and courage in pushing against the institutional obstacles so that they can form their own opinion of Khan and his work, rather than be infantilised by the institutions
who were part of his 'fall'.
Michaela Chamberlain, BJP, 2023

Diary of a Fallen Psychoanalyst: The Work Books of Masud Khan, edited by Linda Hopkins and Steven Kuchuck, is a literary achievement that repairs a gap in the narrative of analytic memory. This extraordinary editorial accomplishment invites the reader to share, in Khan’s own words, the day-to-day observations of a complex, controversial and largely forgotten analytic celebrity. [...] A review of the Work Books must include an assessment of the impeccable editing. I found that the close attention needed to write this review made me even more aware of the skillfulness of the unintrusive editing that retains the flow and integrity of the Work Books. [...] It is hoped that, in time, these Work Books will help to bring about restoration of Khan’s profound and pertinent contributions to contemporary psychoanalytic thought.
Candace Orcutt, New Psychotherapist, 2023

Linda Hopkins and Steven Kuchuck have clearly worked very hard on this edition of the Work Books and it shows. [...] Hopkins and Kuchuck have used a light hand editorially and have not burdened the text with excessive annotation. [...] I am grateful to Hopkins and Kuchuck for giving us the opportunity to live more deeply in the mind of this profoundly paradoxical person.
Nirav Soni, The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, March 2024