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Ferenczi is considered by many students of psychoanalysis as Freud's most important disciple. He was the author of numerous classical writings, which have been quoted over and over again. Some of his other writings were, and still are, objects of bitter argument. Although Ferenczi wrote his papers and books in German, most of them were not available to the German reader for more than twenty years. Whoever wanted to consult Ferenczi's original text had to be satisfied with one of the few existing German editions or with English translations, which also were not abundant. But both of these constituted only a small portion of his writings.
The present publication is a reprint of the original work in four volumes. Volumes One and Two were published by Ferenczi himself in 1927, Volumes Three and Four by his disciples posthumously in the year of his death, 1938. The last volume contains footnotes to Ferenczi's writings, fragments, and sundry publications, which the disciples found in various journals, a complete bibliography of Ferenczi's writings, book reviews, and indices, and a eulogy. Among Ferenczi's book reviews, written between 1913 and 1925, the reader will find major works discussed, such as Freud's Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, as well as books today almost forgotten, such as J. Schaxel's Presentation of a General Biology or F. Meggendorfer's Syphilis in the Stage of Dementia Praecox. Also of interest to the history of psychoanalysis are Ferenczi's contributions on paranoia and other fragments dealing with psychotic (though not schizophrenic) processes.
Michael Balint of London writes the foreword to this second edition. He is probably correct when he assumes that the present reprint is a necessity, a welcome addition to the history of psychoanalysis. Yet Balint speculates that the reader will find Ferenczi hard reading because of the mixed emotions caused by Ferenczi's speculative ideas. Ferenczi, says Balint, is 'no easy author'. He