René Kaës's most recent book, which is addressed particularly to psychoanalysts, is important in several respects.2

Firstly, it may be considered as offering a synthesis of the author's writings as a whole. For about forty years now, Kaës has been engaged in fruitful and rigorous research aimed at providing a psychoanalytic understanding of group functioning.

Secondly, as we shall see, he has put forward hypotheses and important notions designed to underpin a psychoanalytic understanding of groups. His current concern is to examine the point of view of the singular subject, the subject of the unconscious, and to consider him as a plural subject shaped by his group ties. More audaciously still, he considers the unconscious as a group structure. In summarizing the subject matter of his book, Kaës writes, “In the end, the central