D. W. Winnicott first presented his paper “The Development of the Capacity for Concern” (1963c) at the Topeka Psychoanalytic Society, which was closely tied to the Menninger Clinics, on October 12, 1962, during a longer visit to several institutes in the United States.1 The paper points toward the “revolution in our work” that he called for shortly before his death. Through a close reading of this “concern” paper, I elaborate its remarkable, if underestimated, place in this effort and show how his literary style reflects his distinctive metapsychological vision.

Winnicott wrestled with the canonical analytic traditions that were most influential for him—Freud, Klein, and the ego psychologists. His