This article is only available in the PDF format. Download the PDF to view the article, as well as its associated figures and tables.
This survey of the field of aphasia represents a category of writing in which French authors excel, the so-called "oeuvre de synthése." This means that they have composed a review of the subject which is brief but relatively complete, which is lucid without being too elementary or condescending, and which mentions significant controversies without being entangled by them. They discuss the problems and the history of aphasia as well as the clinical problems encountered by neurologists. At relevant points they side with neurologists against other disciplines (such as "psycholinguistics") and insist on the importance of anatomic and physiologic factors. Aphasia is still the only large area where we can correlate mental and organic events at a significant level, and further advancement must come from the neurological approach. The authors are to be congratulated for writing this intelligible survey of a subject all too frequently obscured in other hands.