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This, by a South African psychoanalyst, began as a psychoanalytic study of a native and is the story of John, an African witch doctor. It however has less specialized implications and value in that it is the story of a whole people, in conflict between black and white cultures, Christianity and the primitive superstition of the kraal, subordination and enlightenment. John's story is told as it emerged in his many years of association with Sachs; his childhood in the kraal, his marriage to slovenly, unloved Maggie, his departure for the city as he went to Johannesburg where he practised the art of a "nganga", had repeated trouble with the white man as his native practices brought him up against the law. Escaping the police, he returned to the kraal where he was resented by the natives to whom he was by now superior, went back again to Johannesburg- even more hostile, rebellious. Professionals in this field will find an interest in this clinical case report which shows how close primitive symbolism is to Freudian dream symbolism. There is a further ethnological value, but one questions a general market beyond the scientific. (Kirkus Reviews)
