Book excerpt: "Kofman discusses various facets of Freud's attitudes toward women in his early years--his relation to his parents, the crystallization and development of his personal myths, his surprisingly liberal views in respect to certain independent women of his acquaintance, his thoughts on the mythic power of the Mother and on the putatively feminine side of his own nature. Then, by means of forceful new readings of "On Narcissism," "Femininity," and other works, she reveals that in his writings on women, Freud consistently alludes to women's menace, at times expressing fascination with their power, at times betraying panic. Kofman seeks to demonstrate that Freud in his later years was unable to see past the "idée fixe" of penis envy; his earlier receptivity toward women was overcome entirely by his need to argue with relentless illogic the inescapable, biologically determined inferiority of women."--Back cover.