Clinical Lectures on Klein and Bion: Edited by Robin Anderson. London/New York: Tavistock/Routledge, 1992. 139 pp.

This slim volume grew out of a series of lectures offered to the lay public on contemporary developments in Kleinian psychoanalysis. As noted by Hanna Segal in a brief Foreword, the editor and authors sought to "treat the work of Klein and Bion with respect and integrity; not avoiding what is disturbing and not making superficial or easy what is deep and complex" (p. ix). To achieve their aim, the contributors have amplified theoretical constructs with clinical material, presented so as to allow their audience access to the analyst's experience in the consulting room. The result is a well-written collection of essays that illuminate how Kleinian analysts think and work, one that should prove worthwhile and interesting to students and graduate analysts alike.

In nine short chapters, six devoted primarily to Klein and three to Bion, the contributors—Patricia Daniel, Irma Brenman Pick, Ronald Britton, John Steiner, Elizabeth Bott Spillius, Michael Feldman, Edna O'Shaughnessy, and Ruth Riesenberg Malcolm—have crafted a "sampler" that touches upon many of the most interesting and, for the American-trained analyst, perplexing aspects of contemporary Kleinian thinking. Central issues in Kleinian theory are addressed in the book. One involves the fundamental importance and meaning of "unconscious phantasy," a bridge concept between the biology of drive and the psychology of its representation in the mind that is fundamental to the Kleinian conceptualization of character and of transference. Also presented are clinically illustrated explications of the "depressive and paranoid-schizoid positions." Especially emphasized are the fluid and dynamic relationship that is seen to exist between them in the clinical hour and the intimate connection that is seen to exist between the depressive position and the oedipus complex. Another issue addressed is "projective identification" and its relation to thinking, knowing, and being known, which are viewed as fundamental motivation