| Author Website Page |
| Jeffrey Masson |
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| Copyright 2008 - 2009 © Barry M. Baker, Canines-and-Felines.com |
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson is a writer
who lives with his family in New Zealand. He
has a 32-year-old daughter, Simone, who
works with animals in California. His wife
Leila is a German pediatrician and they
have two sons: Ilan (10) and Manu (5). They
live on a beach in Auckland with three cats
and three rats.
Jeff has a Ph.D. in Sanskrit from Harvard
who lives with his family in New Zealand. He
has a 32-year-old daughter, Simone, who
works with animals in California. His wife
Leila is a German pediatrician and they
have two sons: Ilan (10) and Manu (5). They
live on a beach in Auckland with three cats
and three rats.
Jeff has a Ph.D. in Sanskrit from Harvard
University. He was Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Toronto.
While at the university he trained as a Freudian analyst (from
1971-1979) graduating as a full member of the International
Psycho-Analytical Association. In 1980 he became Project Director of the
Sigmund Freud Archives.
Given access to Freud's papers in London and the Library of Congress,
his research led him to believe that Freud made a mistake when he
stopped believing that the source of much human misery lay in sexual
abuse. Masson's view was so controversial within traditional analytic
circles that he was fired from the archives and had his membership in the
international society taken away. Janet Malcolm has written a book about
this episode (In the Freud Archives - the subject of a libel suit by
Masson) and Jeff has published a series of books critical of Freud,
psychoanalysis, psychiatry and therapy.
Skeptical that humans could be understood (at least by psychologists)
Masson turned to animals. In 1995 he published When Elephants
Weep, an international best seller, followed by the equally popular Dogs
Never Lie About Love.
Since those two books he has published 6 more books about animals,
looking in every one at their emotions: About cats he wrote The Nine
Emotional Lives of Cats (along with a fable, The Cat Who Came in
from the Cold); He looked at fatherhood in the animal world and the
lessons to be learned for humans in The Evolution of Fatherhood;
writing about the emotional world of farm animals in The Pig Who Sang
to the Moon turned Jeff into a vegan.
Lately he wondered why animals did not engage in genocide, and wrote
Raising the Peaceable Kingdom. Finally he wrote an encyclopedia of
his 100 favorite animals (often with an animal-rights angle) called
Altruistic Armadillos - Zenlike Zebras. He has just signed a contract
with W.W. Norton to write a book about vegetarianism (Veganism) called
The Face on Your Plate.
Leila, Jeff and Manu are all vegan. Ilan and his three rats are vegetarian.
The cats could not be persuaded to follow either philosophy, and are,
alas, carnivores.
While at the university he trained as a Freudian analyst (from
1971-1979) graduating as a full member of the International
Psycho-Analytical Association. In 1980 he became Project Director of the
Sigmund Freud Archives.
Given access to Freud's papers in London and the Library of Congress,
his research led him to believe that Freud made a mistake when he
stopped believing that the source of much human misery lay in sexual
abuse. Masson's view was so controversial within traditional analytic
circles that he was fired from the archives and had his membership in the
international society taken away. Janet Malcolm has written a book about
this episode (In the Freud Archives - the subject of a libel suit by
Masson) and Jeff has published a series of books critical of Freud,
psychoanalysis, psychiatry and therapy.
Skeptical that humans could be understood (at least by psychologists)
Masson turned to animals. In 1995 he published When Elephants
Weep, an international best seller, followed by the equally popular Dogs
Never Lie About Love.
Since those two books he has published 6 more books about animals,
looking in every one at their emotions: About cats he wrote The Nine
Emotional Lives of Cats (along with a fable, The Cat Who Came in
from the Cold); He looked at fatherhood in the animal world and the
lessons to be learned for humans in The Evolution of Fatherhood;
writing about the emotional world of farm animals in The Pig Who Sang
to the Moon turned Jeff into a vegan.
Lately he wondered why animals did not engage in genocide, and wrote
Raising the Peaceable Kingdom. Finally he wrote an encyclopedia of
his 100 favorite animals (often with an animal-rights angle) called
Altruistic Armadillos - Zenlike Zebras. He has just signed a contract
with W.W. Norton to write a book about vegetarianism (Veganism) called
The Face on Your Plate.
Leila, Jeff and Manu are all vegan. Ilan and his three rats are vegetarian.
The cats could not be persuaded to follow either philosophy, and are,
alas, carnivores.
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