Reading Klein

Reading Klein provides an introduction to the work of one of the twentieth century’s greatest psychoanalysts, known in particular for her contribution in developing child analysis and for her vivid depiction of the inner world. This book makes Melanie Klein’s works highly accessible, providing both substantial extracts from her writings, and commentaries by the authors exploring their significance.

Each chapter corresponds to a major field of Klein’s work outlining its development over almost 40 years. The first part is concerned with her theoretical and clinical contributions. It shows Klein to be a sensitive clinician deeply concerned for her patients, and with a remarkable capacity to understand their unconscious anxieties and to revise our understanding of the mind. The second part sets out the contribution of her ideas to morality, to aesthetics and to the understanding of society, introducing writing by her associates as well as herself.

The book provides a lucid account of Klein’s published writing, presented by two distinguished writers who know her work well and have made creative use of it in their own clinical and extra-clinical writing. Its aim is to show how substantial her contribution to psychoanalytic thinking and clinical practice was, and how indispensable it remains to understanding the field of psychoanalysis.

Reading Klein will be a highly valuable resource for students, trainees in psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic practitioners and all who are interested in Melanie Klein and her legacy.

Margaret Rustin is a child, adolescent and adult psychotherapist and a child analyst at the British Psychoanalytical Society. She trained at the Tavistock Clinic in London and worked there from 1968 to 2009, becoming Head of Child Psychotherapy and Dean of Postgraduate Studies. Since retiring she continues to teach and maintains a private practice.

Michael Rustin is Professor of Sociology at the University of East London, and a Visiting Professor at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Essex. He is an associate of the British Psychoanalytical Society, and like Margaret Rustin, is the author and editor of many books and articles.