Product Description

Born in Vienna in 1882, Melanie Klein became a pioneer in child psychoanalysis and developed several ground-breaking concepts about the nature and crucial importance of the early stages of infantile development. Although she was a devoted Freudian, many of her ideas were seen within the psychoanalytic movement as highly controversial, and this led to heated conflicts, particularly with Freud's daughter, Anna.

Introducing Melanie Klein brilliantly explains Klein's ideas, and shows the importance of her startling discoveries which raised such opposition at the time and are only now being recognized for their explanatory power. Her concepts of the depressive position and the paranoid-schizoid position are now in common usage and her work has to be taken seriously by psychoanalysts the world over. She is also now important in many academic fields within the human sciences.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68863 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-05
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent, clear, approachable introduction
This is an excellent, clear, and user-friendly introduction to the life and work of the psychoanalyst Melanie Klein. Although I knew a little about the subject to begin with, I would guess that this book would be understandable by anyone without any prior knowledge. My only cavil is that it would be nice to have bit more textual content for the price. Nevertheless, very highly recommended.

Excellent Visual Summary Of Melanie Klein's Psychology
Dr. Hinshelwood, one of the world's leading proponents of Kleinian psychoanalysis, has produced an interesting and readable synopsis of the work of the noted psychoanalyst, Melanie Klein.

Often difficult to understand, Mrs. Klein's work is centred on the intrapsychic aspects of human development. This slim volume allows the reader an opportunity to appreciate some of the more complex aspects of Kleinian thought.

Having digested Dr. Hinshelwood's excellent text entitled "Clinical Klein", I found the visual depictions in "Introducing Melanie Klein" of some of the same cases described in his other work to be helpful and clarifying.

I would recommend any interested reader pick up both volumes and use the "Introducing..." book as a quick reference guide to the "Clinical..." text.