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The moment it seemed, was innocent-enough. I was engrossed in a dreamy, Sunday afternoon walk when two young girls peddled toward me on their leisurely bike ride. They looked to be about seven, carefree and lovely. I couldn't help but overhear the one nearest me announce with full-bodied emotion, “Carly, I haven't seen you in soooo long!” Carly, obviously confused, turns toward her friend and sets the record straight, “Casey, we saw each other yesterday!” I never did discover how Casey managed to survive the micro-affront, but the moment brought to mind my subject—intimacy and distance, heart and mind, warmth and remove.
Sándor Ferenczi embodied a full-hearted, vulnerable and devoted approach to the subject of psychoanalysis and to his patients. His humane mutuality and tenderness spoke to me, as it did to many of my colleagues. It was thus a thrill to travel through this new collection of contributions from international Ferenczi scholars, edited by Harris and Kuchuck, resting on the shoulders of Harris and Lewis Aron's groundbreaking edited work, The Legacy of Sándor Ferenczi (1993). This new work unites a variety of diverse subjects, including: new historical data concerning Ferenczi, his personal history, his historical surround, the ways he suffered from disparaging reactions to his ideas (especially Freud's) and the prominence of his pioneering insights today. The essays also continually weave around the painful reminder of the colossal loss to psychoanalytic wisdom when our history is dismissed and our forefathers exiled. In the case of Ferenczi, “…a rich literature and talented elder statesman and guide were lost for over a century” (p. 2).
This volume consists of seventeen essays divided into three parts. In “Part I, Context,” Judit Mészáros explores the underpinnings of our current fascination with Ferenczi and his appeal to those of otherwise opposing perspectives. Carlo Bonomi studies the complex relationship between Ferenczi and Freud, including Ferenczi'