British Psychoanalysis

"With characteristic intellectual rigour, literary elegance and generosity, Kohon presents a new version of his influential book on the Independent tradition in British psychoanalysis. He has invited contemporary psychoanalysts to reflect upon the main themes of the earlier work. Situating the book within psychoanalysis’ engagement with temporality and the concept of Nactraglikheit, the link is made with the essential papers from the rich clinical and theoretical Independent tradition whilst reconsidering them within a contemporary focus, particularly the developments in French psychoanalysis. The result is a finely woven and deeply relevant synthesis of past and present. Kohon writes of the ‘greedy intellectual curiosity’ central to psychoanalysis; his book is a beautiful example of that curiosity."-Rosemary Davies, Training Analyst of the British Psychoanalytical Society.

"In this sparkling contribution, Kohon has curated a collection of papers inspired by what thirty years ago he identified as the British Independent Tradition. This book is more than a guide to one dialect of the psychoanalytic project. It is, in fact, an impressive renewal of the true meaning of independent thought: an engagement which honours, challenges, and creatively advances a tradition. Each essay pulls its weight. Each reading rewards. Kohon and his colleagues demonstrate that psychoanalytic thinking, writing and practice will remain inventive and compelling as long as the psychoanalytic imagination refuses to compromise its radical challenge to the simplified, the self-serving and the status quo. In this independent spirit lies our replenishment and our renewal."-Jed Sekoff, Training Analyst of the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California.