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Introductions are odd things. Ordinarily, saying too much detracts from what's being introduced, while saying too little diminishes the value of the introduction. Mostly, introductions serve as appetizers so you'll read further. The idea here is somewhat different: the purpose of this introduction is to provide a context for bridging the evolution in Levenson's thinking over the past fifty years by outlining the key concepts most associated with his work. This idea emerged directly from the interview, as it became increasingly apparent how much Levenson's thinking has evolved with the times.
The still-expanding body of Levenson's work comprises more than ninety publications, including three books, spanning a nearly fifty-year period. Levenson's thinking, often incompatible with our most pervasive analytic prejudices, seems to have vitalized or vexed psychoanalysts of all persuasions at one time or other. The creativity and originality of his thought alongside the trademark provocativeness of his writing have, like the wake of a ship, rippled through psychoanalytic thinking and influenced our professional consciousness for close to a half-century. Lewis Aron considers Levenson to have been a major influence on contemporary theorists, including Stephen Mitchell, and describes Levenson as “perhaps the foremost spokesperson for contemporary interpersonal theory” (Aron, 1996, p. 41). Irwin Hirsch (1992), who ranks Levenson's contributions with those of Sullivan, Fromm, Fromm-Reichman, and Thompson, considers him the “preeminent, contemporary, American pioneer in the transformation from a one-person psychology to a perspectivist two- person psychology” (p. 739). Jay Greenberg (1987) has said “Edgar Levenson has been the most persistent, articulate, and radical critic of conventional theorizing … a brilliant deconstructionist [who] more than any other writer (even Sullivan) … has shifted the center of gravity from the endogenous to the external” (p. 691). And John Gedo (199