Book
Contributions to Psycho-Analysis 1921–1945
The first collected volume of Melanie Klein's papers, published in London in 1948 by the Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis as no. 34 of the International Psycho-Analytical Library, with an introduction by Ernest Jones. It opens with her first paper, "The Development of a Child", and continues through her papers on child analysis, the early stages of the Oedipus conflict, symbol formation and manic-depressive states. It closes with "The Oedipus Complex in the Light of Early Anxieties" (1945). Read in sequence, the papers show how her thinking moved from the play technique to the depressive position.
Main ideas
- The volume gathers Klein's papers from 1921 to 1945 in chronological order, from "The Development of a Child" to "The Oedipus Complex in the Light of Early Anxieties".
- Its papers cover child analysis, the early Oedipus conflict, symbol formation and manic-depressive states.
- Taken in order, the papers trace Klein's development from the play technique to the concept of the depressive position.
- Ernest Jones contributed the introduction to this first collection of her work.