Linda Hopkins - False Self: The Life of Masud Khan

In this portrait, clinical psychologist Hopkins draws on thousands of letters and scores of interviews to bring to life a charismatic, cultured, brilliant, immature, and ultimately demented individual. [This] thoroughly researched and well-written life is essential for psychotherapists and historians of the rise and decline of post-World War II psychoanalysis. Hopkins deftly handles a large treasure of material, including interviews with Khans colleagues, friends, patients, and wives.

Library Journal

Hopkins offers an unnerving and sympathetic portrait of the enfant terrible of postwar British psychoanalysis and convincingly suggests that Khan suffered from undiagnosed bipolar disorder.

Publishers Weekly

[Hopkinss] biography goes far beyond relating Masuds life. Her balance breathes fresh life into this Lear-like man who lost his kingdom, his wives, and his way while still staking out a claim to have shown analysis a new and much more intimate, much more loving, way to present itself. An absorbing read.

Republic of Letters

This scholarly, lucid book offers a balanced view of Khans rich and extremely problematic life and work. Linda Hopkins has done a masterful job of investigating the complexities of history and psychology.

Joyce Slochower, Ph.D., A.B.P.P.,

author of Holding and Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Collisions

I didnt want this book to end. A hush fell with the last page, the hush of a shadow of life. I cant thank Linda Hopkins enough for the truth of this book, the detailed care, the love of life that it reveals.

Michael Eigen, Ph.D.,

author of The Sensitive Self, The Electrified Tightrope, and Lust

Linda Hopkins demonstrates how seamlessly threads of inspired genius and impaired living are woven together in the life of Masud Khan. While admirably empathic toward Khans vulnerability, she does not whitewash his accountability. There is so much to be learned from Hopkinss labor of love, and we all owe her a debt of gratitude.

Dodi Goldman, Ph.D., William Alanson White Foundation;

author, In Search of the Real: The Origins and Originality of D.W. Winnicott

Sensible, intelligent, scrupulously researched, and clear as a bell. This is an important biography, for its reference points are the relevance and standing of psychoanalysis in todays world, the crossroads between Western and Muslim culture, and ultimately the contemporary conflict between dramatic image and authentic life. Linda Hopkins has made an extraordinary and successful attempt to get Khans larger-than-life character into ordinary human proportions, where he becomes a flawed man living a flawed life.

Bob Hinshelwood, Ph.D., professor,

Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex

Linda Hopkins paints a remarkable portrait not only of a pivotal individual, but of a cadre of professionals who had a major hand in shaping the psychoanalysis of then and now.

Margaret Crastnopol, Ph.D.,

cofounder and faculty, Northwest Center for Psychoanalysis, Seattle

False Self is a biographical gem, compelling, brilliant, and evocative. Dr. Hopkins provides us with a compassionate exploration of the depths of human suffering and frailties in the context of Masud Khans life, resonating deeply with our own souls and psyche.

Purnima Mehta, M.D.

Photo of Svetlana Berisova in Swan Lake Zo Dominic.

Photo of Masud Khan and Svetlana Berisova Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Photo of Number 3 Hans Crescent appears courtesy of Rebecca Smith and Tara Stitchberry.

Photo of Masud Khan and Svetlana Berisova in Monte Carlo Zo Dominic.

Khan Bibliography 2006 Harry Karnac

Copyright 2006 Linda Hopkins

First softcover printing 2007.

Production Editor: Mira S. Park

Text design: Kaoru Tamura

Ebook ISBN9781635421149

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from Other Press LLC, except in the case of brief quotations in reviews for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast. For information write to Other Press LLC, 267 Fifth Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Or visit our Web site: www.otherpress.com.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Hopkins, Linda B.

False self : the life of Masud Khan / Linda B. Hopkins.

p.; cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-59051-303-3

1. Khan, M. Masud R. 2. PsychoanalystsGreat BritainBiography. I. Title.

[DNLM: 1. Khan, M. Masud R. 2. PsychoanalysisBiography. 3. History, 20th Century. 4. Psychoanalysishistory. WZ 100 K445f 2006]

RC438.6.K48H67 2006

616.89170092dc22

[B]

2006007096

a_prh_5.5.0_c0_r0

For J., B., and P.