A Beam of Intense Darkness
Wilfred Bion's Legacy to Psychoanalysis
Published on 13. July 2007
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-1-85575-448-5 (ISBN)
Description
The author surveys Bion's publications and elaborates on his key contributions in depth while also critiquing them. The scope of this work is to synopsize, synthesize, and extend Bion's works in a reader-friendly manner. The book presents his legacy - his most important ideas for psychoanalysis. These ideas need to be known by the mental health profession at large. This work highlights and defines the broader and deeper implications of his works.It presents his ideas faithfully and also uses his ideas as "launching pads" for the author's conjectures about where his ideas point. This includes such ideas as "the Language of Achievement", "reverie," "truth," "O," and "transformations"- in, of, and from it, but also " L," "H," and "K" linkages (to show how Bion rerouted Freud's instinctual drives to emotions), "container/contained, Bion's ideas on "dreaming," "becoming," "thoughts without a thinker," "the Grid," his erasure of the distinction between Freud's, "primary and secondary processes " and the "pleasure" and "reality principles," "reversible perspective," "shifting vertices," "binocular vision," "contact-barrier," the replacement of "consciousness" and "unconsciousness" with infinity and finiteness, Bion's use of models, his distinction between "mentalization" and "thinking," as well as many other items.
Reviews / Votes
'...this is a book that I had been waiting to have for a long time - a book that was in my 'memoirs of the future'. This book is a hologram of Bion's thought that can be deconstructed in its constituent parts and then reconstructed again and again. It is Grotstein's dream about Bion, but a dream that enriches his thought, transforms it and makes it more readily available.It is a book that I will certainly use with my students in seminars on Bion's thought, and I will encourage others to do the same. It is a book, in my opinion, that all analysts, including those of a different orientation, should take most seriously. It is abook that dares to disturb that universe of knowledge that any reader had before reading it. It is a book which is 'thought for thinking', but also reverie, as well as representing the closest we can get, for the time being at least, to the global 'O' of Bion's thought.' - Antonino Ferro, International Journal of Psychoanalysis, (2008).More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Professional Practice & Development
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 146 mm
Weight
740 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-85575-448-5 (9781855754485)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
06/2019
1st Edition
Routledge
€179.81
Shipment within 15-20 days
E-Book
05/2018
1st Edition
Routledge
€69.99
Available for download
E-Book
05/2018
1st Edition
Routledge
€69.99
Available for download
Person
James S. Grotstein, M.D. was Professor of Psychiatry, U.C.L.A School of Medicine, and a training and supervising analyst at the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Institute and at The Psychoanalytic Centre of California. He was a member of the editorial board of the 'International Journal of Psychoanalysis' and was past North American Vice-President of the International Psychoanalytical Association. He published over 250 papers and was the author or editor/co-editor of numerous books.
Content
ContentsCHAPTER 1. The Scope Of This BookCHAPTER 2. What Kind Of Analyst Was Bion?CHAPTER 3. What Kind Of Person Was Bion?CHAPTER 4. Bion's visionCHAPTER 5 Bion's LegacyCHAPTER 6. A Brief Summary Of Bion's MetatheoryCHAPTER 7. Bion On TechniqueCHAPTER 8. Clinical Case Encompassing Bion's Technical IdeasCHAPTER 9. Bion, The Mathematician, Bion, The MysticCHAPTER 10. The Language Of AchievementCHAPTER 11. Bion's Discovery Of O CHAPTER 12. The Concept Of The "Transcendent Position"CHAPTER 13. The "Quest For The Truth": Part A: The "Truth Drive" As The Hidden Order Of Bion's Metatheory For PsychoanalysisCHAPTER 14. Part B: "The Truth Drive" Curiosity About The Truth As The "Seventh Servant"CHAPTER 15. Lies, "Lies," And FalsehoodsCHAPTER 16. The Container And The ContainedCHAPTER 17. "Projective Transidentification": An Extension Of The Concept Of Projective IdentificationCHAPTER 18. Bion's Work With Groups CHAPTER 19. Bion's Studies In PsychosisCHAPTER 20. TransformationsCHAPTER 21. Learning From ExperienceCHAPTER 22. The Breast, The "No-breast," And The PointCHAPTER 23. The GridCHAPTER 24. The Question Of Fetal Mental Life And Its Caesura With Post-natal Mental LifeCHAPTER 25. What Does It Mean To Dream?" A Preliminary Note On Bion's Theory Of DreamingCHAPTER 26. "...perchance To Dream...": The Profounder Mission Of DreamingCHAPTER 27. "Become" CHAPTER 28. P-s To DCHAPTER 29. L, H, And PassionCHAPTER 30. Faith CHAPTER 31. The Importance Of Bion's Discovery Of Zero ('No-thing") CHAPTER 32. A Pot Pourri Of Selected Contributions By Bion CHAPTER 33. A Reading Of Bion's A Memoir Of The FutureCHAPTER 34. Epilogue For The Book