This paper, which originally appeared in the scholarly journal Science-Fiction Studies in 1984, was my first publication on the science fiction writer Cordwainer Smith. The paper provides a basic biography of Smith (whose real name was Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger) and a psychobiographical analysis of several of his stories. Subsequently I have published several more [...]
Alan Elms: Personality in Psychobiography Interviewed by Kate Isaacson for the psychohistorical journal Clio’s Psyche Alan Elms was born in 1938 in Texas, and grew up in Arkansas, California, and Kentucky. He received a BA in psychology from Pennsylvania State University in 1960 and earned his PhD in personality and social psychology at Yale University [...]
Alan C. Elms Anyone who’s interested in pursuing a career in psychobiography, whether as a college professor or as an “independent scholar,” should first take a look at the Handbook of Psychobiography, edited by William Todd Schultz and published in 2005 by Oxford University Press. Then look at Todd Schultz’s web page, http://www.psychobiography.com/. If you’re [...]
Alan C. Elms There are personality theories that I admire but never use. Those listed below are theories that I have actually used in doing psychobiography. None of them works for every biographical subject, but each one works some of the time. For examples of use, see my book Uncovering Lives, or my chapter titled [...]
Recommended Books on Psychobiographical Research Methods Alexander, I. (1990). Personology: Method and content in personality assessment and psychobiography. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Baron, S. H., & Pletsch, C. (Eds.) (1985). Introspection in biography. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press. Elms, A. C. (1994). Uncovering lives: The uneasy alliance of biography and psychology. New York: Oxford University [...]
I’ve contributed psychobiographical entries to several reference works over the past decade or so: Elms, A. C. (1999). “Sigmund Freud.” In M. Runco & S. Pritzker (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Creativity, vol. 1, 745-751. San Diego: Academic Press. “. . . . Though few psychologists and psychiatrists now wholeheartedly accept Freud’s specific versions of theory and [...]
Review of Albert Goldman, Elvis. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981) Reviewed by Alan C. Elms [Some thirty years ago I began working with Dr. Bruce Heller, a friend and clinical psychologist, on a study of Elvis Presley. I had been collecting Elvis biographical data for a long time, and was eager to obtain more for our [...]
Review of Frank J. Sulloway, Born to Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics, and Creative Lives. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1996.) Reviewed by Alan C. Elms Frank Sulloway’s first book, Freud: Biologist of the Mind, was deeply researched and deeply ambivalent about Sigmund Freud. His second book, 17 years later, is also deeply researched, but not [...]
Review of Peter O. Whitmer, The Inner Elvis: A Psychological Biography of Elvis Aaron Presley (New York: Hyperion, 1996). Review by Alan C. Elms Almost since his first moments of fame in 1956, Elvis Presley has been the object of psychological speculation. Journalists repeatedly asked psychologists and psychiatrists to diagnose Elvis or his fans or [...]
A review of Lawrence J. Friedman, Identity’s Architect: A Biography of Erik H. Erikson (New York: Scribner, 1999. 592 pp. ISBN 0-684-19525-9. $35.00) Review by Alan C. Elms When Erik Erikson wrote an essay at age 67, “Autobiographic Notes on the Identity Crisis,” he may not have intended to steal the thunder from a multitude [...]