You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Many modifications and variations in psycho-analytic technique have been suggested in recent years. Some of these suggested variations are controversial, even when they remain within the framework of classical analysis. This current production of the Kleinian school constitutes not merely a modification, but more, a deviation from the classical Freudian framework.
The book contains 21 essays, 11 of which are revised editions of papers which appeared in an issue of the International Journal of Psycho-Analysis dedicated to Melanie Klein on the occasion of her 70th birthday in March, 1952; 10 are new papers, 2 of which are by Melanie Klein herself. The papers vary from the subject of psycho-analytic theory and therapy to the psychoses and applied psycho-analysis. Naturally, in a collection of papers such as this, overlapping material cannot be avoided; unfortunately, in the present case, the repetition and overlapping is abundant. Most of the directly psycho-analytic papers are concerned with fantasies and internal objects in the first six months to first year of the infant's life; very little is said about the child's development after that time, to say nothing of the problems faced by the analyst who meets only adult patients with neurotic difficulties. All the papers emphasize the child's constant struggle with his internal objects, and his drive towards 'reparation'. The contributors clearly feel that the data they present constitute validation of Kleinian theory and therapeutic technique. In his introduction, Money-Kyrle tells us that 'the deeper understanding we owe to Melanie Klein has substantially increased the power and range of both applied and clinical analysis'.
The climate in America has not been very favourable towards the long controversial views of Melanie Klein; this present symposium, I am afraid, will not improve it. To begin with, the not very fortunately chosen title New Directions in Psycho-Analysis promises a good deal more than the work