Introduction to the Work of Melanie Klein: By Hanna Segal, M.D. New York: Basic Books Publishing Co., Inc., 1964. 118 pp.

In this concise volume Dr. Segal has outlined the basic theoretical assumptions which in her opinion determine the clinical orientation of contemporary Kleinian psychoanalysis. For readers essentially unfamiliar with this point of view and its implications, her presentation, which is clearly written and illustrated by vivid clinical examples, may usefully serve as an introduction. The more difficult and obscure formulations of Melanie Klein herself, and many of the recent significant contributions of her students, are relatively neglected in the curricula of most American Institutes. Kleinian orientation is, however, currently determining the training and practice of a significant proportion of Latin-American psychoanalysts. It is, therefore, to be hoped that Dr. Segal's introduction is being widely read in the United States.

The value of this presentation as an elementary text is enhanced rather than diminished by its somewhat dogmatic simplicity. These same qualities and the related failure to discuss a number of controversial issues may, however, prove disappointing to psychoanalysts who are well versed in this very difficult approach to both theory and practice. It was understandable that Melanie Klein herself made no attempt in her later years to delineate certain areas of convergence and overlap between her own contributions and those approaching early stages of psychological development from different points of view, using different tools of investigation. The same