Arthur Feiner: An Appreciation

I AM DELIGHTED TO HAVE THIS OPPORTUNITY to review Arthur Feiner's contributions to the psychoanalytic literature, both in his role as Editor in Chief of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and as a prolific author in his own right. We have a long history of collaboration that goes back to the early 1950s College Drop-out Project at the William Alanson White Psychoanalytic Institute, and we have, over the years, shared many ideas and coauthored a few papers. Since a great many of my articles have been published in Contemporary Psychoanalysis under his stewardship, and since Arthur personally, and at considerable sacrifice of his time and effort, edited and published my last book, it is evident that I am hardly unbiased in both my gratitude to him and my admiration of his thinking (and good taste in authors!).

In an introduction to one of my articles, Arthur once referred to me as "the Fred Astaire of psychoanalysis" (Feiner, 1978, p. 31). In reviewing his articles, it occurred to me that he might well be considered a combination of Isaiah Berlin and Zorba the Greek! As as a polymath (the kind of abstruse word he loves), he combines a very wide-ranging intellectual curiosity and erudition, complemented by an antic exuberance, an in-your-eye candor and outspokenness, which is manifest in his article in the November 1992 issue of this journal.

Initially, I was not too taken with being compared with Fred Astaire, since it might have implied mere fancy footwork—superficiality—rather than a (presumably) light, sophisticated touch. Besides, I am the only person I know who doesn't think Astaire is a national treasure. But I am now convinced that it was meant as a genuine compliment, since Art much admires Astaire's terpsichore; Balanchine himself once said that Astaire was one of two major influences on his work. I don't know how Arthur will take all this. I'm sure that he admires Berlin's questing mind—I'm not so sure how he regards Zorba. Nevertheless, Zorba and Berlin mirr