This is a remarkable book. I have not seen a more encompassing, intelligent, and fair summation of the state of modern Freudianism and the psychoanalytic literature. Its array of authors and opinions represents the major currents and controversies in psychoanalysis today. If we are in a transitional period, students, practitioners, and teachers alike will be better prepared for a stable future by absorbing its messages.
Leo Rangell A timely exploration of Freudian psychoanalytic technique at the end of the century, The Modern Freudians provides an overview of developments in technique through a dialogue among Freudian analysts. It sheds light on problems and issues generated by modern analytic practice and raises questions that thoughtful practitioners will find helpful in advancing their own understanding as they search for answers. In surveying the past and examining the present, this book prepares us to look forward to the next century.
Charles Hanly Psychoanalytic discourse is expanding at an explosive rate. Virtually all of theory is under review; a rich multiplicity of perspectives is being generated and their clinical implications examined. Now is the perfect moment to ask: What is Freudian about contemporary psychoanalysis? Which principles have endured as fundamental in our field since its inception? Which have been discarded? Which are being implicitly modified? In The Modern Freudians, an outstanding group examines transference, resistance, the Oedipus complex, even the very notion of mental functioning, with respect to current diversity in thinking within the Freudian tradition and in comparison with important developments in other schools of psychoanalytic thought. Ellman and colleagues have assembled a valuable resource for use by all students of psychoanalysis, novices, and veterans, at this particularly exciting moment in psychoanalytic history.
Owen Renik