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THIS PAPER MAKES A SERIES OF INTERTWINED POINTS. AT THE theoretical level, it explores the possibilities for integrating Kleinian theory with intersubjectively oriented infant observation research: Infant researchers' emerging conceptualization of the nonverbal, internal, two-person relationship model as a basic element of psychic structure illuminates the Kleinian concept of phantasy. I apply this approach specifically to consider the concept of projective identification.
This effort seems quite timely. After decades of neglect, Kleinian concepts are attracting avid attention in North American psychoanalytic centers. But there is still considerable uncertainty about them, including the impression that they are inconsistent with the recent relational innovations. I hope to show that this impression is exaggerated and that instead, attention to the Kleinian concepts along with the intersubjective point of view allows us to think simultaneously in “one-person” and “two-person” terms. In this way, the intersubjective models can be extended to capture the density and variety of insights about the inner world in the contemporary Kleinian literature.