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James Grotstein is among the most prolific of American analysts, having published over 250 papers and numerous books since 1977 when his two-part paper on schizophrenia appeared in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. In the introduction to the first paper Grotstein (1977) stated that his aim was to achieve an integrated perspective on the nature of schizophrenia but that this goal was limited by “an inability to reconcile all points of view from any one point of view” (p. 403). Indeed, he proceeded to offer a sweeping overview of psychoanalytic and non-psychoanalytic outlooks which not only demonstrated a vast knowledge of schizophrenia but also reflected an incredible capacity to integrate seemingly disparate frames of reference.
Many readers familiar with his work will find, as I do, that one inevitably has the reaction of ‘Hmm, I never quite thought of it that way,’ a feeling of surprise and wonderment I recall having when reading his interpretation of Michelangelo's Pietà (Grotstein, 2000). Grotstein noted the sadness in Mary's eyes as she looked into the face of Christ as though she knew the future torment awaiting her infant son and likens that experience to the analyst's countertransference upon realizing the emotional turmoil that the analysand must endure.
These two volumes, Grotstein's third book in the last three years, are aptly named But At the Same Time and On Another Level, a title that expresses the ease with which he pivots to approach the topic he is investigating — whether a theoretical point or the discussion of a patient — first from one angle and then from another. Grotstein's easy access to binocular vision is clear evidence of Bion's (1962) influence, and of other factors as well. Grotstein tells us at the outset of Volume 1 that he had four analyses: the first by an Orthodox Freudian who had been analyzed by Freud; the second, Fairbairnian/Object Relational, by an analyst analyzed by Sterba; the third by Bion who was analyzed by Rickm