Among French psychoanalysts, one of the most widely read and appreciated by American audiences in recent years has been Joyce McDougall. Alienated, perhaps, by a foreign intellectual tradition which, in the psychoanalytic arena, has tended to focus on metapsychology, stretching into philosophy, American analysts feel comfortable with the work of McDougall, grounded as it has always been on a deep exploration of clinical experience. At the same time, McDougall's theoretical investigations draw from a wide international range of psychoanalytic "schools," so that she creates in her writing a spirit of fresh adventure, unfettered by the chains of any orthodoxy. These qualities, which illuminate her earlier works, are found again in Theaters of the Mind.