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English-speaking readers who have had an opportunity to read Richard B. Simpson's excellent introduction to “Slaves of Quantity” (Simpson 2003) and his equally excellent translation of that paper (de M'Uzan 2003) are already acquainted with the work of Michel de M'Uzan, an important French author whose writings have thus far been scantily translated into English (de M'Uzan 1973, 1974, 1978, 2000). The article I now have the privilege of introducing to Psychoanalytic Quarterly readers is another faithful rendering by Simpson of one of my de M'Uzan favorites, if I judge by the number of times that I find myself referring to it. “The Same and the Identical” is indeed a text addressing what I deem the central dimensions of psychoanalysis and providing a clear view of where de M'Uzan stands regarding key issues of clinical practice and psychoanalytic models of the mind. Throughout his career of more than fifty years, his thinking has revolved around classical Freudian metapsychology, which he has continued to enrich with his personal clinical experience and his original array of carefully crafted concepts.
De M'Uzan's thinking is something I do not dare call a theory for fear that the word might induce readers to fall back on the common stereotype regarding “French” psychoanalysis: the idea that it is “all theory” and that it rests on scant clinical facts. The stereo-type,