The Writings of Melanie Klein - 1: Love, Guilt, and Reparation, and Other Works, 1921-1925

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Melanie Klein's work began with children and opened new broad perspectives. Since neuroses and psychoses have their roots in childhood, all discoveries related to childhood are, of course, relevant for understanding adult psychology. If Freud discovered the child in the adult, it can be said that Melanie Klein discovered the infant in the child and adult, concluding that from the very beginning of life, the infant establishes intense relationships with others, both in reality and in fantasy. She does not consider the baby to be passive, merely reacting to the environment, but believes that it has from the start a rich psychic life, full of fantasies, in permanent interaction with external reality. This volume includes important works in which Klein clarifies her own orientation, different from the Freudian one – the specific way in which she understands the Oedipus complex in light of early anxieties, manic defenses, and the depressive position. The reader will greatly benefit from the explanatory notes written by renowned Kleinian psychoanalysts – Edna O’Shaughnessy, Hanna Segal, Betty Joseph, and Roger Money-Kyrle.