Part one: Vienna to Budapest, 1882-1920 -- Early memories -- Emanuel -- Marriage -- Crisis -- Part two: Berlin, 1920-1926 -- The protegee -- Limbo -- Ostracism -- Part three: London, 1926-1939 -- The British Psycho-Analytical Society -- Cock of the walk -- Mourning -- The arrival of the Freuds -- Part four: Cambridge and Pitlochry, 1940-1941 -- Moratorium -- Richard -- Part five: The controversial discussions, 1942-1944 -- Resumption of hostilities -- Warring women -- The Ladies' Agreement -- Part six: The postwar world, 1945-1960 -- Mothers and daughters -- The matriarch -- Envy -- Political infighting -- Last years.
Melanie Klein was a leading figure in psychoanalytic circles from the 1920s until her death in 1960. Klein saw the development of children, females in particular, in a way that extended and challenged orthodox Freudian thinking. This biography examines her life and her theories.
Originally published: New York : Knopf, 1986.
Bibliography: (pages 483-498) and index.
Part one: Vienna to Budapest, 1882-1920 -- Early memories -- Emanuel -- Marriage -- Crisis -- Part two: Berlin, 1920-1926 -- The protegee -- Limbo -- Ostracism -- Part three: London, 1926-1939 -- The British Psycho-Analytical Society -- Cock of the walk -- Mourning -- The arrival of the Freuds -- Part four: Cambridge and Pitlochry, 1940-1941 -- Moratorium -- Richard -- Part five: The controversial discussions, 1942-1944 -- Resumption of hostilities -- Warring women -- The Ladies' Agreement -- Part six: The postwar world, 1945-1960 -- Mothers and daughters -- The matriarch -- Envy -- Political infighting -- Last years.
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
``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. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publishers Weekly Review
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. (April 29) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
CHOICE Review
This personal and professional biography of Melanie Klein is literate and well written. The author, a professor of English, displays considerable knowledge of psychoanalysis, and a sympathetic but objective approach to her subject. Extensive references-including analytic work, diaries, and letters-are quoted liberally. Detailed personal observations about Klein and important figures in her life, the history of the psychoanalytic movement,and commentary on Klein's and other theoretical viewpoints are continually interwoven, and make for fascinating study. However, the absence of summarizing commentary and the extensive details in this book make it difficult at times to keep ideas in order. It is also difficult to draw coherent pictures from Grosskurth's study. Perhaps, though, this a major point of the work: that Klein's complex life and ideas cannot be simply ordered. Undergraduates without some background in analysis may find the volume tough going and mysterious, in places. Those students inimical to analytic material could find it vexing. For others, the book may be difficult but satisfying reading.-R.R. Niemi, University of Manitoba
Booklist Review
An astutely researched portrait of the famed psychoanalyst reveals some astounding discrepancies between Klein's theories and her own life. (My 1 86)
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BookSeries: Master work series: Publisher: Northvale, N.J. : Jason Aronson, [1995]Copyright date: ©1986Description: x, 515 pages : illustrations, 24 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 1568214456 (hardback).Subject(s): Klein, Melanie