New Directions in Psychoanalysis. The Significance of Infant Conflict in the Pattern of Adult Behavior: Edited by Melanie Klein, Paula Heimann, and R. E. Money-Kyrle. New York: Basic Books, Inc. 1955. 534 pp.

This collection of articles is the most recent presentation of the thought of a significant group of psychoanalysts whose views are widely divergent from those of most other analysts. Divergent views in a science serve the valuable function of forcing a reader to consider his own theoretical orientation and to compare points of agreement and disagreement.

The use of the term 'new' in a title raises the question: new in relation to what? In this book the question is: are the contributions new in relation to earlier works of the authors or new in relation to other psychoanalytic writings? It is apparent that the authors intend the latter. We would then have reason to expect a clear exposition of the historical development of psychoanalytic theory and the support by clinical evidence of the direction taken by the investigators. This would call for a statement of Freud's theories, the theories of others, and the studied comparison of these to the new theories proposed by the authors. I do not believe this book meets these requirements. It restates the views of Melanie Klein and her followers, but adds no new evidence to bring conviction of their value.

These views have in the past been subjected to exhaustive critical examination especially in a paper by Glover1 and one by Bibring.2 A recent study of Kleinian theories by Zetzel3 attempts a comparison of these theories with those of Hartmann, Kris, and Loewenstein.

It is very striking that in this book there is an almost total lack of consideration of any other points of view. It is as if the authors believe that they have established a position which is beyond criticism, and which needs only to be stated. One therefore misses a sense of