The Phyllis W. Meadow Award for Excellence in Psychoanalytic Writing

This year's award-winning essays bring a variety of theoretical and philosophical perspectives to bear on our profession's applications in the treatment room and to the culture that serves as the matrix in which our therapeutic work proceeds. Jonathan Dunn's article comparing some of Freud's ideas with those of Hans Loewald is the first serious consideration this journal has given to that important and interesting psychoanalytic thinker and philosopher of mind. Marilyn Charles's essay is centrally concerned with connecting the clinical process of psychoanalysis with the impact of the surrounding culture on the character of a particular patient. Her thinking is influenced by Lacan, who is by no means new to modern psychoanalysts or to these pages. David Greven adds a literary-critical perspective to his psychoanalytic readings in a penetrating and profoundly respectful critique of Freud's writings on narcissism, particularly in relation to male homosexuality. Josie Oppenheim has noticed that intimations of magic can be a crucial component of the identity of adoptive children, to themselves and those around them. In focusing on the preoedipal ground of that phenomenon, her thoughts on the subject are particularly modern analytic.