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Book Review: S. Giora Shoham, The Myth of Tantalus: A Scaffolding for an Ontological Personality Theory. Portland, OR: Sussex Academic Press, 2005. 323pp. Paper: $32.50 (US), ISBN 1903900433

States. Trauma were undoubtedly numerous during that period but, in the end what was most deeply destructive was the loss of a way of life, of hope, and of a clear cultural common sense. Another original contribution to the trauma literature is Sortir du génocide from the French psychoanalyst Régine Waintrater. This work is an anatomy of the discourse on trauma by victims of genocide and of the reactions of the listener, whether it is the historian, the human rights officer, the judge or the film producer. Waintrater has personally interviewed many of her witnesses but the bulk of the analysis relies on the myriad of autobiographies written by the survivors of the Nazi concentration camps. Although the dust-jacket publicizes the book with reference to more recent genocides, this essay is almost exclusively about the Shoah. In an era where truth and reconciliation commissions are multiplying, this book is a rare attempt to describe the interior world of those who are called to testify about their personal drama. There is also an entire chapter devoted to the position of those on the other side of the table – participants in the process who record the words of those who come back from death. Quoting one of her witnesses in her final remark: “A mute trying to talk to a deaf trying to hear,” Waintrater does not consider reporting a genocide as easy for those on either side of the table. One of the merits of the book is that it leaves aside the esoteric vocabulary of psychoanalysis and sticks to metaphors voiced by the witnesses. A wide range of themes is covered, and the goal of the book is more to illustrate the complexity of the witnessing process than to build a social sciences model.