Melanie Klein: Her World and Her Work

Underestimated until recently in America, Melanie Klein was a leading figure in psychoanalytic circles from the 1920s until her death in 1960. From the moment she read Freud’s paper On Dreams she was enraptured, converted, and dedicated to psychoanalysis. She was the first European psychoanalyst to become a member of the British Psychoanalytical Society, and ultimately she became its dominant influence. Drawing on a wealth of hitherto unexplored documents as well as extensive interviews with people who knew and worked with Klein, Phyllis Grosskurth has written a superb account of this complicated woman and her theories―theories that are still growing in influence.