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This little book, edited and with a preface by John Steiner, is presented as a collection of the three lectures delivered in September 1987 at the Melanie Klein Conference on the Oedipus complex. This Conference, held in London, was jointly organized by Joseph Sandler and Ruth Riesenberg Malcolm, the latter acting on behalf of the Melanie Klein Trust.
One is immediately intrigued by the title of this book of totally Kleinian (and secondarily Bionian) inspiration and with Melanie Klein's seminal (1945) article, 'The Oedipus complex in the light of early anxieties' figuring as Chapter I, which seems to suggest that it purports to express the views of the psychoanalytic community at large, or else that contemporary psychoanalysis is confined to the Kleinian school of thought. However, John Steiner writes, still in his preface: 'the three papers presented here seemed to reflect so well the current developments in modern Kleinian views of the Oedipus complex that the Trust decided to have the papers published'. A priori, this more restrictive phrase rings truer. Yet as the reader gets into the book and begins to reflect, he discovers that the title may be more pertinent than originally thought. In fact, due probably to reciprocal influences, a great many non-Kleinian analysts may well find that the views expressed here come close to their own, and whilst there may not be a consensus, certain of these will at least arouse their interest and a feeling of familiarity. This, I believe, will be true for quite a few French analysts.
The outstanding introduction written by Hanna Segal in her characteristically clear and precise style provides a historical outline of Melanie Klein's views concerning the Oedipus complex: an early Oedipus complex resulting from the relationship in which breast frustration (principally weaning) leads the infant to turn to its father and his penis. In her articles of 1928, 'Early stages of the Oedipus conflict', Melanie Klein considers that t