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It is not commonly known that, in his eighties, Michael Fordham sought the help of Donald Meltzer in what Dr Meltzer described as ‘more a weekly supervision of dreams than an analysis’. Dr Fordham is said to have commented that it was ‘a weekly supervision of my inner world — and you can't get closer to psychoanalysis than that!’ He was greatly helped by these ‘supervisions’ and at the end of their work together, Meltzer suggested that Fordham wrote his memoirs. This resulted in The Making of an Analyst: Michael Fordham, published in 1993.
This fascinating account of Fordham's life and work contains much of interest about his personal development. He talks with candour about his confusions and passions in what is at times a surprisingly revealing manner. In particular Fordham talks openly about his closest relationships and how they affected him. The book was published, as he wanted it to be, after careful discussion with James Astor and Karl Figlio.
We are pleased to be able to publish the following contribution from Dr Meltzer about the book which he prompted. It is a mixture of personal responses on reading the book and memories of the man.
This is the first autobiography I have read by a person I have known directly and it has been a strange experience, coming as it did some years after spending many hours listening to Michael Fordham — he insisted I was analysing him — as he reviewed his life in search of threads of his character. He said it was very helpful and I can certainly testify that it helped me. He was one of the three great men I have known, along with Roger Money-Kyrle and my father, and they had a great similarity in character. Since their backgrounds were so grossly different — two English gentlemen and one poor boy immigrant to the US, their similarity was puzzling. All