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W. R. D. Fairbairn: “the man who un-split the psychic atom.” This opening line, by series editors Norka Malberg and Joan Raphael-Leff in their foreword to this volume, captures succinctly the momentous transformative power of Fairbairn's theoretical and technical contributions to psychoanalysis. Fairbairn, a quiet Scotsman, developed his ideas in the 1940s, though he remained relatively unknown during his lifetime. That well-known fact is substantially documented throughout the book. Fairbairn's rise to fame occurred gradually and propitiously with the support of a small band of followers who expanded on his ideas and lent credibility to his psychoanalytic conceptualizations. Beginning with Henry Gunthrip, who in the 1970s precipitated this movement, recognition of the impact of Fairbairn's ideas on psychoanalytic clinical practice and theory has been growing. This voluminous compilation draws on the growing ranks of Fairbairn's admirers, and its editors, Graham Clarke and David Scharff, are to be commended for their efforts.
The book is part of the Lines of Development series launched in 2012 with the support of Karnac Books. A collaborative intellectual enterprise, the series memorializes giants in the field of psychoanalysis. To date it includes four books, with a promise of many more to come. This volume on Fairbairn, the second in the series, stands tall and sturdy between Anna Freud and Winnicott (the fourth is dedicated to Bion). It canonizes a man who lived in relative obscurity, with a decidedly philosophical and theological bent, who worked quietly with populations that reflected his vast and diverse clinical interests, and whose sociopolitical interests were often reflected in his work. A compilation of Fairbairn's papers (1952) emerged from his clinical practice, papers that redefined the nature of ego functions, revolutionizing and breaking away from prevailing models of psychic functioning. Anyone familiar with the object relations tradition will find h