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This interview took place on September 14 and 15, 1990 in the book-lined home of the gracious Ernest Wolf and his wife, Ina. Dr. Wolf is on the faculty and a training and supervising analyst of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. He also holds a faculty position in psychiatry at Northwestern University. The range of his learning, as evidenced by his publications, is remarkable and includes translations from German, essays on Freud's intellectual development, studies of theory and clinical practice relating largely to self psychology, and the application of psychoanalytic formulation to understanding literature and art. His wife shares his interest in literature and has co-authored one paper with him on Virginia Woolf.
After concluding the first interview, Dr. Wolf shared with me special books and photographs and generously offered to show me his videotape of Kohut's last presentation in Berkeley; he commented on it warmly and generously, indeed, with such feeling of friendly memory and loss that tears came to his eyes. The gift of his playing the tape for me and his sharing of his own responsive feeling toward it characterize well the nature of the man. The warmth, generosity and hospitality, along with the ease of intelligent exchange encouraged by Dr. Wolf and his wife give an insight into the course of Dr. Wolfs career and suggests he has carried into his own life and relationships his belief in responsiveness and empathy.
Virginia Hunter: How did you first decide you wanted to be an analyst?
* “Part II: The Later Years,” concerning Ernest Wolfs analytic years and contributions, will follow in the next issue.
Page 309Ernest Wolf: In 1951 I was thirty. I was doing a psychiatric residence in Cincinnati when I decided to become an analyst, because the important people, the ones that I respected, were all analysts.
VH: Who were those people and what were the things they taught that impressed you?
EW: The chairman of the department was Maurice Levine who probably had the bes