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To review these Selected Papers of Ernst Kris requires, to my mind, not only a thoughtfully appreciative scrutiny of their content, but a measure of historical perspective as well as some knowledge of the man himself. Anyone reading the book with its dust jacket still intact is greeted by a charming picture of Kris looking obliquely downward as if he were about to join the reader's reading. It is a pity that this picture is not reproduced in the book itself as it may be lost sight of when the jacket is worn out and has disappeared. An impression of animated alertness is at once conveyed by the eyes, or the area around them (for the eyes are not clearly seen), and by the tension of the mouth and the tightly clasped hands.
In the 1930's the return of many American students previously in psychoanalytic training in Europe, together with the gradually increasing number of more experienced European analysts fleeing from Hitler, brought increased interest and concern among all analysts here. Soon, formalization of activities in psychoanalytic societies occurred, and training was more clearly defined and organized in associated institutes. Between 1930 and 1933, five institutes were established in the Eastern half of the country. By the end of the 1940's, this number had doubled, and authorized training had reached as far West as California. The general atmosphere among American analysts at this time, as I remember, was one of sympathetic and anxious excitement under the stress of the increasing war threat, together with gratification in being able to help these colleagues and a sense of enrichment in having so many experienced and well-known analysts among us, sometimes mingled with a feeling of guilt that we should profit by others' catastrophe. There were rough spots, too: tensions due to differences in cultural backgrounds and mores, seeming too trivial to be recognized at a time of crisis but operative in unexpected ways. Even the geography of the country was