Why Ferenczi?: The Empathic Style in Psychoanalysis, by Daniel Kupermann,  Blucher, São Paulo, Brazil, 2024,  202 pp.

The title of Daniel Kupermann's book poses a seemingly simple, yet important question for psychoanalysis in our time. If nowadays we can say Ferenczi's name without having to fall to a hush or hide behind closed doors, the remnants of his decades-long shunning in the field-or death by silence (Todschweigen)-are still very much alive in Brazil and other parts of international psychoanalysis. Seeing Ferenczi's name on book covers, and the on-going work of interested clinicians, academics and researchers, has been making a big difference in how we respond to Ferenczi. An example of growing interest in Ferenczi's work was the recent 14^th International Sándor Ferenczi Conference, held in São Paulo at the end of May 2024, where the conference auditorium was filled to capacity with almost a thousand attendees who were eager to learn of the ideas Ferenczi introduced to the world of psychoanalysis and foster his legacy. (See link to the conference program: sandorferenczi.org). But for those on the outside looking in, it is easy to mistake such excitement and engagement for a passing fad. One of the lasting consequences of Ernest Jones's defamatory depiction of Ferenczi in his biography of Freud (p. 15) was banishing the teaching of Ferenczi's works in psychoanalytic institutions, which cast him into relative obscurity for a prolonged period of time. Although this has been gradually changing, it is still commonplace for analysts to never hear about Ferenczi during their psychoanalytic training, let alone study his work thoroughly. So it is easy for the true magnitude of his contributions to be missed by those who have never had a chance to dive deep into his writings.

It has been mostly the work of those who have joined in the “Ferenczi Renaissance” movement to disseminate his thinking and expand on his ideas. Daniel Kupermann is one of its prominent voices. I find it extraordinary-a