Love and Survival in Budapest: The Memoir of Artur Renyi

About the Editor(s)

Ilonka Venier Alexander is a US/Canadian author who began writing in 2014. She has written and published three previous books: The Life and Times of Franz Alexander: From Budapest to California, a biography of her famous grandfather; Growing Up Alexander: My Life with a Psychoanalytic Pioneer, documenting her family’s survival and escape during the Holocaust; and the memoir of her uncle Love and Survival: The Memoir of Arthur Renyi. She holds an undergraduate degree in constitutional history from a California university and a master’s in social work from the University of Southern California. Before becoming an author, she spent more than thirty years working in the field of mental health, with both children and adults in the US and Canada, and is a founding scholar of the British Psychoanalytical Council.

The granddaughter of Dr Franz Alexander, one of the original thinkers and pioneers in the field of psychoanalysis, Ilonka grew up with him and was deeply influenced by his work. Her latest work examines the early history of psychoanalysis in the United States and Dr Alexander’s prominent role in shaping the field. It also explores the reasons why his contributions are not more widely recognised by contemporary scholars.

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Nauszika Mathe-Arvay was born in Budapest in 1973 and still lives in the neighbourhood, where for the last decade she has worked as a psychologist for an elementary school. She is especially interested in how to create an integrative community in which every member can play a valuable role, applying narrative methods and restorative practice. She considers all personal, family, and community roots, as well as intercultural aspects, very important.

Zsuzsanna Rényi worked as a historian for the Hungarian Academy's Research Institute and was a lecturer for ELTE University in Budapest. She has retired but is still doing translations as well as teaching English. She is especially interested in Anglo-American cultural history and civilization. In recent years she has published a book of interviews about his father, the mathematician Alfred Rényi. She is enjoying family life and her grandchildren.