The Contemporary Kleinians of London, edited by Roy Schafer,  International Universities Press, 1995,  441 ps.

The Contemporary Kleinians of London contains eighteen articles by renowned Kleinian analysts such as Hannah Segal, Betty Joseph, and John Steiner. The book begins with a general introduction by the editor, in which he attempts to lay out a skeletal groundwork, defining and explaining concepts such as the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions, containment, and projective identification. There is also a short introduction by the editor to each of the articles contained in the book. This book functions in two ways. On the one hand, the editor hopes to expose and educate analysts unfamiliar with contemporary Kleinian theory and technique; on the other, he clearly is attempting to show that contemporary Kleinian theory is more related to Freudian theory and practice than it is to object relations theory.

The first function of the book is beautifully fulfilled. The initial articles in the book are more theory bound, and introduce the reader, in considerable depth, to the Kleinian perspective on topics such as fantasy, projective identification, and splitting. Each article begins with a theoretical explanation of the topic under consideration, which is then brought to life with a series of vivid and compelling clinical examples. As the book progresses the articles address more complex aspects of technique, such as the dynamics of reassurance or working in the countertransference. The format of the articles continues to intermingle theoretical considerations with clinical material, to the advantage of each. The articles on technique continue to build on the concepts addressed in the first sections so that the reader's comprehension of these ideas deepens and grows, culminating in a much fuller understanding of how contemporary Kleinians think and work. Thus, for example, the concept of projective identification is first defined by the editor in his introduction. It is more fully defined and elaborated on in Betty Joseph's article “Projective Identification: Some Clinic