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Psychoanalysis in Latin America: Theory and Technique is a collection of 12 chapters offered by the Psychoanalytic Federation of Latin America (FEPAL), edited by Adelina Alcorta Garza. In addition to Garza's chapter, contributions come from Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, and Uruguay, among other places. The range of topics is diverse and intriguing. Horacio Etchegoyen, a past president of the International Psychoanalytical Association, states in the foreword: “I am positive this book will fulfill its purpose of being an integrative force for the two hemispheres” (p. x). Earlier, he describes the objectives of this volume with clarity:
The objective of this publication is not only to offer to scholars a place and grounds for reflection but also to introduce to the northern hemisphere Latin American researchers. For this reason the book was conceived from the beginning as a bilingual text; this presentation being in English and a corresponding volume following in Spanish, with the intention that psychoanalytic thinking from the southern hemisphere should be known in the north as well as among ourselves. (p. ix)
I believe that these goals are worthwhile, indeed, and I looked forward to reading these contributions from the south. It can be so enriching to consider the thinking and styles of other clinicians whose psychological and cultural traditions can create a new perspective that illuminates our own. Familiarizing ourselves with each other's work, from south to north and north to south, is of great value.
Regrettably, I was very disappointed with the product. At first I faulted myself for not being able to adjust to difference in writing style, a difference in cadence, as it were, of the written word from the south. But this consideration soon gave way to the conclusion that only a few chapters are well edited or translated. Some required so much work to understand that my only memory of the