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This is the third Ogden volume to join this distinguished series of seminal psychoanalytic publications: only Antonino Ferro is more extensively represented, so this is quite an accolade. Ogden's hallmark is the imaginative exploration of a nuanced responsiveness: to many this remains a continuing delight, though some may feel his gift for virtuoso elaboration has run risk of becoming arch, losing sight of the wood for the trees. I had been of this latter view but, with the exception of the last chapter, this volume has thoroughly converted me to the enthusiasts' camp.
As Ogden announces in his opening chapter on ‘Some thoughts on how to read this book’ his is not a hands-off approach. It is, he says, ‘a book about reading—not simply a book of readings’. Thus the appreciative reader must remain mindful that:
human truths must again and again be rediscovered in new forms, otherwise these truths become clichés that staunch the flow of genuine thinking and creativity. Renewal of thinking and originality of expression are mutually dependent: writing is a unique form of thinking; and originality of writing is originality of thinking. Neither content nor style exists without the other.