Ferenczi And His World

This volume honours Sandor Ferenczi, a central character in the birth of psychoanalysis, whose warm and passionate personality, ideas, and teachings permeate his world and his work, shaping psychoanalytical thinking of generations.

Winner of the 2016 Gradiva Award for Edited Book The Legacy of Sándor Ferenczi, first published in 1993 & edited by Lewis Aron & Adrienne Harris, was one of the first books to examine Ferenczi’s invaluable contributions to psychoanalysis and his continuing influence on contemporary clinicians and scholars. Building on that pioneering work, The Legacy of Sándor Ferenczi: From Ghost to Ancestor brings together leading international Ferenczi scholars to report on previously unavailable data about Ferenczi and his professional descendants. Many—including Sigmund Freud himself—considered Sándor Ferenczi to be Freud’s most gifted patient and protégé. For a large part of his career, Ferenczi was almost as well known, influential, and sought after as a psychoanalyst, teacher and lecturer as Freud himself. Later, irreconcilable differences between Freud, his followers and Ferenzi meant that many of his writings were withheld from translation or otherwise stifled, and he was accused of being mentally ill and shunned. In this book, Harris and Kuchuck explore how newly discovered historical and theoretical material has returned Ferenczi to a place of theoretical legitimacy and prominence. His work continues to influence both psychoanalytic theory and practice, and covers many major contemporary psychoanalytic topics such as process, metapsychology, character structure, trauma, sexuality, and social and progressive aspects of psychoanalytic work. Among other historical and scholarly contributions, this book demonstrates the direct link between Ferenczi’s pioneering work and subsequent psychoanalytic innovations. With rich clinical vignettes, newly unearthed historical data, and contemporary theoretical explorations, it will be of great interest and use to clinicians of all theoretical stripes, as well as scholars and historians.

This book aims to present an up-to-date introduction and critical study of one of the most important psychoanalysts of all times, Sándor Ferenczi. The book presents Ferenczi as a person; his discovery of psychoanalysis and his relationship with Freud; the theoretical and clinical novelties he introduced to psychoanalysis; his deep political and social commitment, striving for the democratization of psychoanalysis; and the great relevance of his thought and perspective for the future. It also talks about his repression in the history of psychoanalysis as well as his influence in the following generations of psychoanalysts. The reader will be presented with the most relevant historical milestones and concepts, with new insights regarding some of Ferenczi’s most fundamental ideas (such as his trauma theory, his technical innovations or his developments regarding the end of analysis), as well as an informed viewpoint of his legacy, the contemporary readings of his work and the institutions and associations that continue following the path traced by l’enfant terrible of psychoanalysis. This book will be of interest both for the novel reader who has had none or scarce contact with the person and/or work of Sándor Ferenczi, as well as to the psychoanalysts, clinicians and scholars, who have a deeper contact and understanding of the work of the Hungarian analyst.

The Ferenczi-Jones correspondence presented here is an important document of the early history of psychoanalysis. It spans more than two decades, and addresses many of the relevant issues of the psychoanalytic movement between 1911-1933, such as Freud's relation to Stekel, Adler and Jung; the First World Wa;, the debates of the 1920s regarding the theoretical and technical ideas of Rank and Ferenczi; problems of leadership, structure, and finding a centre for the psychoanalytical movement; as well as issues related to telepathy and lay analysis. It includes thirty-seven letters and six postcards, as well as original documents waiting to be found for eight decades; these belong to the 'private', personal history of psychoanalysis and help to decode diverse aspects of the experience preserved in these documentary memories of former generations.Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this correspondence is how it allows us to build up a far more nuanced picture of the development of an extraordinary relationship between Ferenczi and Jones. It could hardly be termed harmonious, and was not devoid of rivalry and jealousy, sometimes even of hidden passion and outright hostility. Nevertheless, friendship, sympathy, collegiality and readiness for cooperation were just as important for Ferenczi and Jones as rivalry, mistrust and suspicion. This volume celebrates the 100th anniversary of the foundation in 1913 of both the British and the Hungarian Psychoanalytical Societies.

"This volume honours Sandor Ferenczi, a central character in the birth of psychoanalysis, whose warm and passionate personality, ideas, and teachings permeate his world and his work, shaping psychoanalytical thinking of generations."--Provided by publisher.

Ferenczi for Our Time presents contributions from British, French, American and Hungarian analysts of the second, third and even fourth generation, who deal with different dimensions of experiencing the external and internal world. These papers explore linkages between Ferenczi and the works of Winnicott, Klein, Alice, Michael and Enid Balint, the British Independents as well, as French analytical thought related to Dolto and beyond. The reader will also become acquainted with original documents of a revived Hungarian psychoanalytical world and new voices of Budapest. 'The Balints' chapter invites the reader to listen to colleagues sharing memories, recollections and images - allowing a personal glimpse into the life and professional-human environment of these extraordinary personalities. The topics discussed here are wide ranging: possibilities and impossibilities of elaborating social and individual traumata, child analysis and development, body-and-mind and clinical aspects of working with psychosomatic diseases. Functions and dysfunctions of societal and individual memory are explored as signifying 'blinded' spots in our vision of external and psychic reality as well as the vicissitudes of generational transmission of trauma.

Sandor Ferenczi, Sigmund Freud's brilliant pupil as well as an innovative psychoanalyst, was silenced by various generations of his contemporaries until, in the past decades, his work began to be rediscovered. Certain aspects of his trauma theory, in fact, had never been thoroughly addressed, particularly, the connection he made between trauma and language. Miguel Gutierrez-Pelaez offers a new reading of Ferenczi by proposing a dialogue between the Hungarian psychoanalyst's work, philosophy, and contemporary psychoanalysis. Among the subjects covered, the book delves into the vulnerability of children and Ferenczi's never-ending search for a cure, the complex issue of war trauma and, more specifically, his anticipatory work in understanding the effects on the human psyche of the horrific experiences in concentration camps during World War II. These issues are raised against the backdrop of captivating figures like Jacques Lacan, Emmanuel Levinas, Giorgio Agamben, Derrida, Nietzsche, and Primo Levi, among others.

This fascinating collection explores the life of renowned psychoanalyst Michael Balint in his native Budapest. With a Balint revival in mind, Michael Balint and his World: The Budapest Years brings together the work of psychoanalysts, social thinkers, historians, literary scholars, artists and medical doctors who draw on Balint’s work in a variety of ways. The book focuses on Balint’s early years in Budapest, where he worked with Sándor Ferenczi and a circle of colleagues, capturing the transformations of psychoanalytic thinking as it happens in a network of living relationships. Tracing creative disagreements as well as collaborations, and setting these exchanges in the climate of scientific, social and cultural developments of the time, Michael Balint and his World: The Budapest Years follows the development of psychoanalytic thinking during these critical times. The book recalls the story of several “lost children” of the Budapest School and reconstitutes Balint’s important early contributions on primary love. It also examines his little-known relationship with Lacan, including the extended discussion of Balint’s work by Wladimir Granoff in Lacan’s first public seminar in Paris in 1954, published here for the first time. This important book provides a fresh perspective on Balint’s enormous contribution to the field of psychoanalysis and will interest both scholars and clinicians. It will also inspire those interested in clinical practice and the applications of psychoanalysis to the cultural sphere.