Memory's Eyes

MEMORY'S EYES is a contemporary New York Oedipus novel. It is written for readers who enjoy playing with concepts and storylines, here namely the classical Oedipus myth, Sophocles' three Theban plays, the psychoanalytical concept of the Oedipus complex, and its pop-cultural adaptations in cartoons and jokes. Tragic and funny, playful, but also challenging, readers will find themselves simultaneously knowing and not knowing, anticipating and surprised by how the truth slowly emerges.


In Memory's Eyes Cordelia Schmidt-Hellerau renews the emotional richness of psychoanalysis and ancient myth. Even more strikingly, she illuminates the combination of those two realms in the lives of contemporary characters, culpable yet sympathetic in their sometimes outrageous, heart-rending, or silly behavior. Ann, a candidate at a psychoanalytic institute, tells the story of her Oedipal clan and its flawed family members. Along with its antic comedy, Ann's tale maintains a profound love for her discipline and the redeeming power of insight.

--Ellen Pinsky, PsyD, author of Death and Fallibility in the Psychoanalytic Encounter: Mortal Gifts.




In America's Thebes, Antigone and Oedipus are alive again in an array of compelling characters. Ann, the novel's narrator, driven by intense curiosity and the capacity to remember and dream her parents' lives, uncovers complex family secrets--ones that reveal her origins and free her from the shackles of her past. Schmidt-Hellerau gives us a tale of vivid imagination and psychological depth.

--Daniel Jacobs, MD, author of The Distance from Home


Cordelia Schmidt-Hellerau, Ph.D. is a Training and Supervising Analyst of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and the Swiss Psychoanalytic Society. She has published numerous papers and three books on metapsychology, clinical issues and applied psychoanalysis. Her 2018 publication of Driven to Survive was a finalist of the American Board & Academy of Psychoanalysis Book Prize. Her first novel, Rousseaus Traum, was published in 2019 in German. Since 2017 she is the Chair of the IPA in Culture Committee. She works in private practice in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.