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The thorough and knowledgeable research undertaken by Stefano Bolognini for this book displays some of the best characteristics of Italian psychoanalysis. This is a psychoanalysis that has not precociously developed its own strong thinking but rather has worked hard and in depth with the available psychoanalytic theories. This has allowed for an open approach that has proved to be very fertile in the development of ideas.
Even more than interesting and pleasing, this book is testimony to a style of life and thought—to a way of being a psychoanalyst that is composed of passion, dedication and competence, coupled with a well-mannered and self-directed irony. Quite the opposite of a superficial reader, Bolognini is an attentive one, approaching other authors with great respect. Right from the start, in the Introduction, where he reflects on the implicit micro-theories that constitute the psychoanalyst's fundamental theoretical repertoire, he distinguishes between eclecticism—the superficial and furtive appropriation of other models—from a respect for the complexity involved in the articulation or even integration of the theoretical constructions of others.
The historical part of the book is most useful, in that the author carefully reviews the reflections of those who have previously worked with the concept of empathy. In this he reflects on different theoretical and technical points of view, and investigates their implications.
Bolognini starts from the romantic use of the term, laden with projective and fusional elements. Considering the authors who have previously investigated the relationship between Freud and the concept of empathy (Pigman, Shafer, Fine), he reflects on the position of Freud, who, even if he considered empathy to be a useful, indeed, fundamental condition, nevertheless never ceased to warn us of an excessive involvement. Bolognini comments, ‘In reality Freud was always very preoccupied with, and for many years even diffident of, analysts' reactions t