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I knew Simon for twenty years, primarily as a great person to have at an APCS conference, someone who put pretentious presenters in their place, and kept me entertained during the panels we decided to skip. We’d sit out front of the Rutgers building, he’d smoke a cigarette or three, and some years that was the highlight of the conference for me. That says a lot about Simon. What it says about the conferences I’m not sure.
I also knew Simon as a great host when I invited myself to Bristol during a trip to London. After I gave my talk, it was pouring rain and we sat in a restaurant alongside a barge canal, and he taught me about Melanie Klein. I’d written a book about Klein, and thought I knew her work. What I didn’t know nearly as well was the work of more recent Kleinians.
I don’t mean to turn this memorial essay into a book review, but I think Simon’s integration of Klein with social theory, in particular the problem of racism, is the best application of Klein’s theory I know. “Application” isn’t really the right word. Extension and development of the social implications of her work puts it better. So, as a way of memorializing Simon, I’d like to talk about his book.
Social Theory, Psychoanalysis, and Racism did not get the serious intellectual attention it deserved. Marketed and structured by Palgrave as almost a textbook, it’s a great study of the role of projective identification in attacks on thought. Not only is Simon clearer on the subject than most, but he goes beyond the consulting room to the world.