Janet Malcolm's two-part
New Yorker article, "
Trouble in the Archives" (published December 1983) and later released as the book
In the Freud Archives
(1984), explores the scandal involving Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson’s
termination from the Sigmund Freud Archives. It details the battle over
forbidden documents, focusing on how guardians, particularly K.R.
Eissler, controlled access to Freud’s letters and papers to protect his
legacy.
Key Details of the Article:
- The Scandal:
The article centers on Jeffrey Masson, who was fired as Projects
Director of the Freud Archives after uncovering—and publicly
questioning—Freud's abandonment of the "seduction theory" (that
childhood sexual abuse caused neuroses).
- The Guardians:
Malcolm provides a detailed account of Kurt Eissler, who fiercely
guarded the archives, and Peter Swales, a freelance researcher exposing
scandalous details about Freud's life, showing how the archive was a
"filtered" space of power dynamics.
- Impact: The piece, which began in The New Yorker, was described by The New Criterion as a "spellbinding" look at the ideological and literal "trouble" within the hoarding of historical documents.
- Legacy: The story highlighted how archives are not neutral repositories but are shaped by those who manage, seal, and curate them.
The article is widely considered a foundational text on the politics of archives and investigative journalism ethics.
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