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This book is a 1994 translation of a book originally published in France in 1990. The English edition must have been revised from the French, since it includes a discussion of Bion's Cogitations, published in 1992 by Karnac. A note, apparently written by the publisher, following the title page tells us that “this is the first full biography and first comprehensive exposition of the most interesting and arguably the most influential figure in recent psychoanalysis. It is particularly welcome, since Bion's ideas are often found to be difficult of access. There is no substitute for immersing oneself in his writings, but an introduction is surely a useful beginning, something which no one has hitherto undertaken with respect to the complete works.”
The reader can agree with this assessment with one or two reservations. While this may be the first comprehensive exposition of Bion's work in the literal sense (since it is the first published since his death), Donald Meltzer (1978) in The Kleinian Development and Grinberg, Sor, and de Bianchedi (1977) have also published respectable critical expositions that deal with almost all of Bion's work. The second reservation was aptly expressed by Hinshelwood in his Foreword to this edition: the biographical data rests entirely on Bion's autobiography, apparently augmented by interviews with his widow, Francesca. But since her source for most of the information was Bion himself, she cannot count as an independent source. Hinshelwood quotes the principle of Roman law that one witness is no witness.
But a very useful way to begin a study of Bion it is indeed, and more than that. A comprehensive overview of Bion's psychoanalytic