The two Bernard Berenson cousins
The interplay among immigration, culture, and narcissism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8970988 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Susan G Goldberg (0000-0002-3310-9833, Duquesne University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 97 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1627-1655 |
| Publication date | 2016-10-17 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The International Journal of Psychoanalysis (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0020-7578 • E-ISSN: 1745-8315 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1745-8315.12599 |
| PMID | 27748510 |
| OpenAlex | W2538149390 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 14 |
The lives of two 19th century cousins, both of whom changed their names to Bernard Berenson, are considered from historical and psychodynamic perspectives, using a psychobiographical method. The Jewish cousins immigrated separately to Boston from Lithuania in 1875 and 1882. One cousin, later calling himself simply B.B., became a world-renowned art historian. The other Bernard became a misanthrope after feeling deeply humiliated by his cousin's family in Boston. Many biographies were written about the famous B.B. The only histories of his cousin Bernard were family stories, as he was the author's great-grandfather. The intersecting lives of these cousins are discussed. Both men faced the challenges of immigration as well as intense anti-Semitism and prejudice in each country in which they lived. These cultural and historical conditions interacted with the cousins' narcissistic vulnerabilities. Their lives demonstrate different manifestations of narcissistic suffering, with B.B's being more consistent with the construct of a "grandiose narcissist" and Bernard's being more consistent with that of a "closet narcissist." The life stories of these two cousins with the same name offers an intriguing instance of a complicated relationship among immigration, prejudice, and narcissism and case examples of the manifestation of how narcissistic suffering can influence lives
Immigration · Narcissism · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · History · Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies · Psychology · Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment
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Best practices in psychobiographical research
Bernard Berenson and the Twentieth Century
Bernard Berenson. The Making of a Connoisseur
Symmetry and asymmetry in aesthetics and the arts
The Golden Age Shtetl
Beyond psychobiography
Persistence and fashion in art Italian Renaissance from Vasari to Berenson and beyond
| Highly cited | No |
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