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To the Editors: Despite my inclination to avoid success and preserve my omnipotent fantasy of maternal fusion, I cannot resist making a comment on Dr. Norman Levy's discussion of Dr. Alexander's paper on “Omnipotence and the Avoidance of Pleasure” [The Psychoanalytic Forum, Vol. 1, No. 3].
I think the reason Dr. Levy's closing remark that the paper “does not represent an original contribution” (nothing really new) seems so gratuitous is that it is really directed to object relations theory rather than to this paper in particular. It is a denial that there is a very real divergence between libido theory and object relations theory which requires fundamental theoretical reorientation.
Thelma Strickler, ACSW
Beverly Hills, California