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It was an enormous loss to psychoanalysis when the eminent and beloved Martin S. Bergmann died at the age of 100 on January 23, 2014. Fortunately, he left us a great deal of inspired and inspiring writing, including the present book. It began as a seminar of the same title. Bergmann writes generously of his students that their contributions to the topic became the foundation of his book, and he says that “they convinced me that reading Shakespeare's plays contributes depth to a therapist's psychoanalytic education” (p. xi). The few readers who may not be familiar with this remarkable author should know that he finished writing this book when he was ninety-seven, having written several other books since 1976, and having been honored with the prestigious Sigourney Award in 1997.
Bergmann, along with his son Michael, also wrote a fine book on Shakespeare's sonnets.1 In it they courageously venture beyond where previous scholars have gone in looking for Shakespeare's unconscious feelings as reflected in these stunning poems. That earlier book makes an important claim for the use of clinical psychoanalytic expertise in