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This collection of papers leaves one in no doubt as to the massive contribution which Jeanne Lampl-de Groot has made to psycho-analysis. The papers which are most original, such as those on "The Evolution of the Oedipus Complex in Women" (1927) or on "Masochism and Narcissism" (1937) at the same time display a high capacity for integration of knowledge—of theoretical exactitude with clinical insight, of preoedipal development with the crystallization of pathology in the phallic phase, of psycho-analysis with other branches of psychology or with biology. The contributions, theoretical and clinical alike, are marked by a striving for systematic clarity. Apart from an interval for the war years, Lampl-de Groot's productivity has been steady for more than thirty years.
Though most of the papers concern some aspect of the development of the mind the title of the book does not quite succeed in suggesting the contents. It is a collection of papers for the most part concerned with aspects of the development of the mind but not a systematic exposition. To some extent, as the publishers say, it is a guide to the development of psycho-analysis. The pre-war contributions largely concern the problems of feminine development and of masochism. Lampl-de Groot shows great sensibility for the small child's awareness of its smallness, and it was her major contribution to enlarge the understanding of the girl's castration complex, previously based on anatomical differences, in terms of a convincing psychology of disappointment based also on the inevitable failure of her active object-seeking relationship with the mother. Moreover Lampl-de Groot never forgets that penis envy is not the exclusive prerogative of the female.
Equally impressive is her partial elucidation of the problem of masochism in terms of a defence against narcissistic trauma ("Masochism and Narcissism", 1937). The basis of this view may be illustrated by the girl's preference for the fantasy that her mother rem