This fascinating collection explores the life of renowned theorist Michael Balint in his native Budapest. With a Balint revival in mind, this collection 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.
- Includes contributions from a range of disciplines to provide a fully-rounded reflection on the contribution of Michael Balint
- Places Balint's work culturally, historically and theoretically.
- Including contributions from eminent writers in the field.
In this deliciously gripping book, the editors and chapter authors transport us on a highly readable and deeply enlightening tour of the often-forgotten contributions of the creative and bold pioneers of psychoanalysis in Hungary, not least the achievements of Michael Balint and his first wife, Alice Balint. Beautifully researched, incorporating much previously unpublished data, this groundbreaking volume offers not only extensive historical wisdom but, also, reminds us of the ways in which the work of Balint and his Budapest colleagues can enhance contemporary psychoanalysis.
Professor Brett Kahr, Senior Fellow, Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology, London, and Visiting Professor of Psychoanalysis and Mental Health at Regent's University London, and Honorary Director of Research, Freud Museum London
In a period when the idea of 'correct technique' was becoming crystallized around language, Michael Balint explored the 'gulf between patient and analyst' like no other, taking care to acknowledge the fractured balance between the individual and the environment, while teaching us the importance of becoming 'unsolid'. Nowadays we are, perhaps, more ready to appreciate the sensitive, profound, and elegant way he rethought the basic grammar of the analytic experience. This collection of essays and original documents on Michael Balint and his World, illuminates a variety of less known aspects of The Budapest Years. It is an engaging invitation to revive his inspiring legacy. I strongly recommend it.
Carlo Bonomi, Ph.D., training and supervising analyst of the Societa Italiana di Psicoanalisi Sandor Ferenczi, president of the International Sandor Ferenczi Network (ISFN), associate editor of the International Forum of Psychoanalysis, and Founding President of the Sandor Ferenczi Cultural Association
I hear with pleasure and emotion that the book about Balint and the Hungarian analytic society will soon be available. The list of contributors is impressive. Much thanks to them.
Judith Dupont, psychoanalyst, translator, author and editor, member of the French Psychoanalytical Society, founder of the psychoanalytic journal Le Coq-heron, and literary executor for Michael Balint
Judit Szekacs-Weisz, PhD, is a bilingual psychoanalyst and psychotherapist. Born and educated (mostly) in Budapest, Hungary, she has taken in the way of thinking and ideas of Ferenczi, the Balints, Hermann and Rajka as an integral part of a professional mother tongue. Living and working in a totalitarian world sensitised her to the social and individual aspects of trauma, identity formation and strategies of survival.
Raluca Soreanu is Professor of Psychoanalytic Studies in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, and psychoanalyst, member of the Circulo Psicanalitico do Rio de Janeiro. She is the project lead of FREEPSY: Free Clinics and a Psychoanalysis for the People: Progressive Histories, Collective Practices, Implications for Our Times (UKRI Frontier Research Grant).
Ivan Ward is former Deputy Director and Head of Learning at the Freud Museum London, where he worked for 33 years. He is author of a number of books and papers on psychoanalytic theory and the applications of psychoanalysis to socio-cultural issues. He is an Honorary Research Fellow at UCL Psychoanalysis Unit.
Series Editor's Foreword Acknowledgements Contributor Affiliations Editor's Note Chronology of MichaelBalint's life Part 1: Budapest Trails 1. A Brief Introduction to the Balints and Their World: Object Relations and Beyond 2. Michael Balint, his world and his Oeuvre 2a. Andre Haynal: In Memorium 3. The Problems of Education and Society in the Budapest School of Psychoanalysis 3a. Ferenc Eros: In Memorium 4. I look into a room through a round gap. Alice Balint's Life, Work and Diaries Part 2: Creativity and Primary Love 5. Therapy, Object Relations and Primary Narcissism: Metapsychology in the Early Works of Michael Balint 6. Primary Harmony: Baby Observationon Infantile Hopes and Quiet States 7. Human Links 8. Michael Balint and the Budapest School of Psychoanalysis on the Importance of Creativity Part 3: Lost Children of Psychoanalysis 9. Lost Children of the Recent History of Psychoanalysis: Tibor Rajka MD, 1901-1980 10. Remembering Dr Istvan Szekacs-Schoenberger 11. My Debt to Michael Balint Part 4: Links Rediscovered 12. Introduction to Wladimir Granoff's Presentation on Balint at Lacan's Seminar 13. Presentation on Balint at Lacan's Seminar Freud's Papers on Technique, 26 May 1954 14. Lacan's Balint: Synergies and Discords in a Professional Friendship Author Biographies