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John Steiner's “Illusion, Disillusion and Irony in Psychoanalysis” is a fascinating, provocative, sophisticated book in which the author explores the importance of the title's seminal psychodynamic concepts in human psychology, development, and clinical work. In contrast to focusing on case material, although he sporadically includes samples of his previously published cases, Steiner illustrates the human and clinical relevance of these concepts in classical literature, including Milton's “Paradise Lost,” Ibsen's play, “The Wild Duck,” Sophocles' tragedy, “Oedipus, the King,” Cervantes' “Don Quixote,” Keats's poem “Ode to a Nightingale,” and excerpts from other classical authors, including Shakespeare. There was so much rich material that, unfortunately, I could not cover all of it in this review.
The book provoked me into a dialog with Steiner's view of these concepts in a way that few other books have. I have deeply contemplated many of the ideas he considers over the course of my clinical career. The metaphorical illustrations from literature are powerful and, as I read the book, I found myself at times applying his clinical wisdom to my patients with therapeutic effect.
Steiner based Illusion, Disillusion, and Irony in Psychoanalysis on a series of his professional articles dating from 2013 to 2020. He investigates, among other subjects, the clinical importance of truth versus illusion, the necessity of disillusion and the acceptance of reality for psychological growth, and the extent to which irony, the capacity to look at something from multiple perspectives, is necessary for adaptative psychological functioning as well as progress in psychoanalysis. The fact that John Steiner, a highly regarded Kleinian analyst for his classic work, Psychic Retreats and other writings, is not a rigid intrapsychic analyst was refreshing. He alluded to the therapeutic impact of relational interaction throughout, especially in his discussion of the infant's omnipotent possession