Part 1 of Milton's book consists of four previously unpublished lectures by Klein, among them ‘on play’ ‘The need for psychoanalysis in certain types of difficult children ’ ‘ The importance of the unconscious mind for the whole personality’ ‘Sadness and loss in the emotional life of the young child’. Also included in Part 1 is a thirty-page autobiography in which, among other matters, Klein writes about the Jewish background of her family.
Part 2 consists of studies by four leading Kleinian researchers – Claudia Frank, Robert Hinshelwood, Maria Rhode and Jane Milton. These studies analyze material in Klein’s archives – lectures, letters, documents – and position them in a contemporary context.
Particularly absorbing is Claudia Frank’s study of Klein’s previously unpublished paper ‘On reassurance’ written in 1933. Frank’s study reveals that Klein had a far more complex position vis a vis the dilemma between ‘reassurance and interpretation’ than her supporters have hitherto believed. Also, of great interest is the study by Maria Rhode which presents new clinical material on Klein’s work with the young patient “Dick” which she used as a basis for her essay on symbolism (1930). In addition, there are letters from Bion to Klein that touch on Klein’s essay ’On the sense of Loneliness’ which was published posthumously in 1963, as well as Klein’s comments on a lecture delivered by Bion (The Psychology of Schizophrenia at the IPA Congress of 1953), held in London in which she reasons out her view of countertransference .
In our conversation with Dr Milton we will discuss the Klein archive, her personal life and the movement that she led, what the archival material teaches us about Klein’s theories and her therapeutic technique and the relevance of Klein’s work to contemporary psychoanalysis.
Dr Jane Milton is a psychiatrist and a training analyst of the British Psychoanalytical Society. Since 2014 She has been archivist for the Melanie Klein trust.
To purchase a copy of Dr Milton’s book at a reduced-price press here
Participation is free of charge but requires registration in advance.