Why Read Klein? The Importance of Melanie Klein's work for Contemporary Psychoanalysis

by Elisa Maria de Ulhôa Cintra (Editor), Marina F. R. Ribeiro (Editor)

Overview

Why Read Klein? explores the importance of Melanie Klein’s work to contemporary psychoanalysis, her contributions as a key early psychoanalyst, and continued influence on contemporary psychoanalysts.

Klein’s seminal work brought in several conceptual contributions that expanded psychoanalytic knowledge, sparking creativity and fostering a vibrant intellectual lineage. Her profound writings and enduring concepts embody a psychoanalytic legacy which has been constantly evolved and developed by various psychoanalysts who have drawn inspiration from her ideas over the years. This book presents the reverberations of her work in various authors, classic and contemporary. With an aim to encourage new forms of therapeutic action and conceptual understanding of her works, Why Read Klein? offers a modern interpretation of her ideas by incorporating films, poetry, and literary texts to illuminate her key concepts.

This book is essential reading for both practicing and in training psychoanalysts and psychotherapists seeking a comprehensive understanding of Klein’s work and its relevance to contemporary clinical thought.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781040402924
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/22/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	174
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Elisa Maria de Ulhôa Cintra has a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Pontifícia Universidade Católica of São Paulo (PUC-SP). She is a psychoanalyst and is a professor on the Clinical Psychology Post-Graduate Studies Program at PUC-SP and the Faculty of Human and Health Sciences at PUC-SP. She is also the Coordinator of Laboratory at the Inter-Institutional Laboratory for Studies on Intersubjectivity and Contemporary Psychoanalysis (LIPSIC). In addition, she is the author of books and several articles published in specialized journals.

Marina F. R. Ribeiro, PhD, is a psychoanalyst, full professor and research supervisor and advisor for the Clinical Psychology Postgraduate Program at the University of São Paulo (USP). She is the Coordinator of Laboratory at the Inter-Institutional Laboratory for Studies on Intersubjectivity and Contemporary Psychoanalysis LIPSIC. She is also the author of several books and papers and most recently co-authored Reading Bion’s Transformation (2024) and edited Why Read Ogden? The Importance of Thomas Ogden's Works for Contemporary Psychoanalysis (2025).

Table of Contents

01. A brief overview of Melanie Klein’s Work: coming to terms with the soul’s wounds 02. The Kleinian enlightenment project: making the invisible visible 03. The Kleinian enlightenment project: making the invisible visible 04. Unconscious phantasy: Contemporary readings 05. The archaic in Klein 06. The paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions: the movement of the mind 07. The feminine position: a theory on femininity and masculinity 08. Envy and gratitude: some notes 09. Projective identification: technical developments 10. Reflections from and beyond Melanie Klein

Editorial Reviews

'We should see Melanie Klein's thought as an open work. It is a work that reinvents itself with each encounter with contemporary thought, fertilizing it and thus continuing to inspire new perspectives and sow new concepts derived from a deep understanding of her ideas. It is not a matter of accepting or rejecting her in its entirety, but of taking her ideas as a rich model of the functioning of the psychic apparatus. In her work, the process of acquiring knowledge has become a concept with metapsychological status and has been incorporated into most contemporary psychoanalytic theories.'

Elisabeth da Rocha Barros and Elias Mallet da Rocha Barros, training and supervising analysts and docents at the Brazilian Psychoanalytic Society of São Paulo (SBPSP); and fellows of the British Psychoanalytic Society and Institute

From the Publisher