In the half-century since his death, the Hungarian analyst Sándor Ferenczi has amassed an influential following within the psychoanalytic community. During his lifetime Ferenczi, a respected associate and intimate of Freud, unleashed widely disputed ideas that influenced greatly the evolution of modern psychoanalytic technique and practice. In a sequence of short, condensed entries, Sándor Ferenczi's Diary records self-critical reflections on conventional theory--as well as criticisms of Ferenczi's own experiments with technique--and his obstinate struggle to divest himself and psychoanalysis of professional hypocrisy. From these pages emerges a hitherto unheard voice, speaking to his heirs with startling candor and forceful originality--a voice that still resonates in the continuing debates over the nature of the relationship in psychoanalytic practice.

Psychoanalytic Pioneers is a comprehensive history of psychoanalysis as seen through the lives and the works of its most eminent teachers, thinkers, and clinicians. It is also a definitive portrait of the atmosphere in which psychoanalytic creativity has emerged and flourished. Going beyond mere biographical description, the contributors elucidate the contributions of various psychoanalysts to the evolution of psychoanalytic thought, and evaluate their roles in the development of psychoanalysis as a science, as a method of investigation, as a treatment technique, and as an organization. The editors have assembled profiles of Karl Abraham, Sandor Ferenczi, Otto Rank, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Ernest Jones, Paul Federn, Oskar Pfister, Harms Sachs, A.A. Brill, Sandor Rado, Theodor Reik, Melanie Klein, Otto Fenichel, Karen Horney, Heinz Hartmann, Ernst Kris, and twenty-four other pioneers, whose influence on psychoanalysis reverberates to this day. In a new introduction, Eisenstein maintains that while man and his unconscious have not changed much since Freud's time, today psychoanalysis is full of many different clinical and theoretical viewpoints. Among the ideas being debated are object theory, drive theory, the oedipal concept, intersubjectivity, and self-psychology. Eisenstein also discusses the contributions of psychohistory, a recent and significant development in psychoanalysis in which psychological study is applied to historical periods and personalities. Psychoanalytic Pioneers will be an important addition to the libraries of psychoanalysts, psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, historians, and anyone interested in the influence of psychoanalysis in our lives.

Psychoanalyst, teacher, and scholar, Heinz Kohut was one of this century's most important intellectuals. A rebel, according to many mainstream psychoanalysts, Kohut challenged Freudian orthodoxy and the medical control of psychoanalysis in America. His success in treating narcissistic disorders and his highly influential book How Does Analysis Cure? established Kohut's Self Psychology as the strongest rival to traditional psychoanalysis today. The Curve of Life reveals Kohut's private and public life through a unique collection of lively and thoughtful correspondence with colleagues, public figures, family, and close friends. Over 300 never-before-published letters, drawn from Kohut's private files and from colleagues, cover Kohut's life from his native Austria in the 1930s until his death in 1981. Because many of his letters were so substantive, this rich collection clarifies Kohut's landmark published works. In letters to such diverse personalities as Anna Freud and Bruno Walter, Kohut meditated on some of the most intriguing psychoanalytic questions of the day—the nature of psychological cure, the relationship between doctor and patient, and the role of the Oedipus complex in psychoanalysis. The correspondence also reveals Kohut's lively interest in literature, music, history, and culture, as well as his deep and often contentious involvement in the politics of the psychoanalytic movement. Kohut discussed his theories in letters to August Aichhorn, Heinz Hartmann, the Surgeon General, and even Jacqueline Kennedy, and the responses, some published here for the first time, prompted him to explore his ideas from a variety of perspectives. A letter from Anna Freud provoked Kohut to respond this way: "What you had to say gave me great pleasure, and your approval was a welcome support amidst the inescapable insecurities under pressure to which we are all exposed. Strangely enough, it was not the discussion of scientific contributions and other statements that I had sent to you but the very last, parting sentence of your letter which gave me the most food for thought. You sent me your best wishes for the presidency of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and expressed the hope that '...this office permits opportunity for some revolutionary moves.'" The Curve of Life illuminates the evolution of Kohut's theory of the psychology of the self, and provides a rare glimpse into the institutional and intellectual history of psychoanalysis in the last half of this century. These letters will fascinate not only scholars in psychoanalysis, but also those in the humanities, social sciences, and even theology, as well as general readers curious about the private thoughts of a towering figure in intellectual life.