MELANIE KLEIN

April 1, 1986
Extensive research went into this informative and revealing first major biography of Klein, a pioneer of child psychoanalysis, whose theories, although generated from Freud's discoveries of the unconscious, produced considerable controversy in their deviation from Freudian views. Klein is best known for her advocacy of play as a means of reaching a child's unconscious, and for her concepts of projective identification and patient-analyst countertransference. Grosskurth relates Klein's personal conflicts and traumas as a child and mother to the development of her ideas and methods as an analyst. She traces the history of psychoanalysis from Freud to the 1960s as it paralleled Klein's career, and reveals the often vicious and petty debates among British, American and German psychoanalytic societies, focusing on Klein's early support from and, according to the author, eventual betrayal by Ernest Jones; her fierce rivalry with child psychoanalyst Anna Freud; and her tyrannical rule in later years over the British psychoanalytic camp, dubbed "Kleinian.'' A rudimentary knowledge of Freudian concepts is helpful but not necessary for reading this thorough study. Grosskurth has also written biographies of John Addington Symonds and Havelock Ellis. Photos not seen by PW. Macmillan Book Clubs and Jason Aronson Book Club alternates.

March 15, 1986
"From the moment Melanie Klein read Freud's paper On Dreams (1901) in 1914, she was enraptured, converted, and dedicated to psychoanalysis." And so Grosskurth, biographer of Havelock Ellis and John Addington Symonds, brings to life the famous child psychiatrist and her world. Klein grew up in Vienna. After reading Freud and entering analysis with Ferenczi, and later with Karl Abraham, Klein analyzed her own children and pursued psychoanalysis with seriousness and determination. Encouraged by Alix and James Strachey and Ernest Jones, she moved to the newly formed British Psycho-Analytical Society, often finding her concepts in conflict with those of Anna Freud. Grosskurthwith more objectivity and detail than Hanna Segal in her Melanie Klein ( LJ 7/80)conveys the personality and personal dynamics of her subject. The results are brilliant. Highly recommended. Marcia G. Fuchs, Guilford Free Lib., Ct.