Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

F. M. Alexander, the Use of the Self, and a 1932 Book Review + Discussion in the Yorkshire Post: A Failure to Impact Medical Science

2015; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês

10.2139/ssrn.3402838

1556-5068

Jeroen Staring,

Musicology and Musical Analysis

In 1931, Frederick Matthias Alexander, founding father of the Alexander Technique, who in 1894 began a career as a full-time stage artist and elocution and breathing teacher launched his book The Use of the Self explaining the history of his discovery of what he called a "primary control of the psycho-physical mechanisms" (Alexander, 1932c). This case study critically describes the chronicle of Alexander‘s claim, notably citing the full text of a yet unreferenced letter to the editor of the Yorkshire Post written by Alexander in reaction to a book review by the young journalist Charles Davy. The case study shows how Alexander and his followers developed a strategy of self-sought isolation.