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17th March 1955
Dear Dr. Rodrigue:
I think that you must feel that your lecture produced an interesting discussion and was much appreciated, especially on account of the bit of clinical material from child analysis. I repeat that it was a great pleasure to have you here in England once more.
I am writing about the little detail which in essence is not the subject of your paper but which arose out of it. In reply to my direct question, you said yes, each infant does create the world. The other half of your sentence I think wants a tail to it, and if you could provide this tail you would then be saying something which is absolutely in line with the sort of thing which I keep on saying over and over again because I think it needs saying. You went on with some words like these: “But the world the infant creates is a chaotic one” (you may not have used the word chaotic but I think you will remember). I am suggesting that here you are brought right up against the mother's presentation of the world to the child and the infant's very great dependence on the mother on this account. If the mother presents the world to the infant in a chaotic way then, as you say, the infant creates a chaotic world. Ordinarily, however, the mother does not present a chaotic world but takes great care even although she is quite uninstructed to simplify the world in such a way that in fact the infant creates a world that increases in complexity in an orderly way. If you could add this tail-piece to what you said it would be very important and it would be in advance of the ordinary Kleinian statement of infancy.
This is a matter of great practical importance not only in the application of psycho-analytic work to mothercraft but also in the analysis of artists and of the artistic efforts of patients.
Talking in the same terms the thing that makes your presentation so interesting, whereas some presentations are dull is that one feels that when you give Klein theories you not only discover them but you a