Gunter, the protagonist of Stephen O’Connor’s newest novel, We Want So Much To Be Ourselves, begins the book as a psychoanalyst training in Vienna under the guidance of Sigmund Freud. His life is then tracked in its entirety, with particular focus given to the period of Hitler’s rise to power, as the Nazis’ influence permeates every aspect of Gunter’s life: his relationship with his Jewish wife and daughter, his career as a psychoanalyst, and his relationships with his countrymen who steadily show greater and greater allegiance to the Führer. Time and time again, Gunter is forced to decide whether to stick to his moral convictions — disavoing Nazism — or, as an Aryan citizen, bend to Nazism’s influence in order to ease his path through life.
What makes this novel so compelling is the constant moral question it poses about whether or not to bow to authoritarianism, particularly when one is not in the position of being in the persecuted minority. ShouldGunter push back against the demands the Nazis put upon the psychoanalytic school he teaches at, given the likely consequences of his doing so? Shouldhe speak up against the firing of his Jewish coworkers? In each instance, staying quiet would ensure his safety, and he can always rest on the hope that Nazism will eventually blow over, that his fellow Germans will come to their senses; yet, doing so comes with a tremendous spiritual cost. His morals and his rights as a citizen are degraded, and those whom he knows and loves are losing their lives.
O’Connor’s focus on psychoanalysis makes this book especially engaging. Psychoanalysis — or, the “Jewish medicine”, as one Nazi in the book puts it — has deep Judaic roots, with many of its pioneers, including Freud and Alfred Adler, being Jews themselves. The origins of psychoanalysis, then, make it an easy target for the Nazis: it eventually becomes a tool to further the Nazis’ agenda, shown dramatically in the instance where Gunter must treat a zealous Nazi soldier. In this, the novel offers an eye-opening example of how authoritarianism can corrupt even the most noble and altruistic of endeavors.
Although We Want So Much To Be Ourselves meanders at times, it is nevertheless a vivid portrait of living under tremendous political and ideological restraint. It demonstrates the terror that the call to action instills, and the importance, nonetheless, of heeding that call, regardless of the threat.
Benjamin Selesnick is a psychotherapist in New Jersey. His writing has appeared in Barely South Review, Lunch Ticket, Tel Aviv Review of Books, and other publications. He holds an MFA in fiction from Rutgers University-Newark.
