92. Letter from Donald Winnicott to Humberto Nagera, 15th February 1965

15th February 1965.

Dear Dr. Nagera:

You sent me your “Early Childhood” paper on November last. You know, it was too long for me to read, with all the things I am trying to write. I kept it on my desk, always hoping the get the necessary couple of hours, but I never reached this state.

What I have seen of the paper seems to me to be excellent. Certainly you have worked very hard at it, and I hope it brings rewards.

I hope the fact that you do not accept Melanie Klein's view of infantile neurosis will not prevent you from trying to gain something from her immense contribution to our work. You see, I feel that your reference to Klein could be based on a reading of one page, namely page viii of the preface to Segal's book.

I rather agree with your reference to Klein and the Infantile Neurosis, but as I worked with Melanie for some years, especially in the thirties, and learned a very great deal about children from her, I want to make sure that you are not contented with reading one page of a book about her. It is difficult to get the Klein contribution even from a study of all she herself wrote.

This is a minor matter from your point of view. The work represented here is solid and instructive and constructive. I do congratulate you.

If you had wanted to quote from me you could have done so (Chapter I, Collected Papers; Chapter 4, Part I, and Chapter 4, part II, The Child and the Family) but I know this was not a place for references.

For me, however, there is a history to the position from which you are now working, and quite a few of us have contributed to the fact that you have this place in the world (London and the Psycho-Analytical Society) from which to write a paper. I hope you accept this broad comment from an older man.

I have found value in your reminding us of the continuing importance of the concept of The Infantile Neurosis in Psycho-Analytic Theory.