The Untouched Key: Tracing Childhood Trauma in Creativity and Destructiveness

One troubled child channels her pain into art; another vents his anguish in destructive acts. What makes the critical difference in the way each translates childhood suffering? Combing the life histories of Picasso, Buster Keaton, Nietzsche, Hitler and others, Miller concludes that the presence of an enlightened witness--someone who offers a contrast to cruelty--tips the balance between constructive expressions of "forgotten" trauma and repetitions of internalized inhumanity. She argues eloquently throughout that when adult authoritarian needs suppress children's true needs, there are dangerous societal consequences.