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Whether a separate movement or school in psychoanalysis becomes revolutionary depends not only on the content of the innovation but on the personality of the innovator. Hence there are Kleinians and Kohutians but no Winnicottians. By all accounts Winnicott was not an evangelist, he had no wish to impose his ideas upon others, he preferred to be 'found'. And for reasons which are not altogether clear to me he did not wish to emphasize his differences with Freud. Boundary and Space is in keeping with Winnicott's non-intrusive, non-polemical style. This work was sponsored by the Winnicott Publication Committee and the authors, Davis and Wallbridge, have had the advantage of access to all of Winnicott's unpublished papers and lectures. The authors' intent is modest: to provide an introduction to Winnicott's work for those who are not otherwise acquainted with him. He is said to be difficult to understand and thus requires a Baedeker; but his difficulty is not that of Bion or Lacan, whose texts require translation; his difficulty resides in the fact that he cannot readily be appreciated until one has acquired some comparable forms of clinical experience.
He was a very successful lecturer to lay audiences but behind his simple statements (which at times appear almost banal when taken out of context in this work) stands a hidden subtlety and complexity which is at times quasi poetic in its form and is indeed difficult to grasp. This work consists not so much of an explanation or interpretation of Winnicott's papers but a precis, or summary. The author's summaries are interspersed with lengthy quotes from Winnicott, frequently from unpublished lectures to lay audiences.
It is to the authors' credit that they have not attempted to simplify Winnicott in deference to the beginner. They attempt to outline his texts in a sensitive, subtle and thoughtful manner and yet retain a prose that is direct, uncomplicated and free from jargon. It is useful not only for the begin