Giuseppe Civitarese, MD, PhD, is a training and supervising analyst (SPI, APsaA, IPA). He lives in Pavia, Italy. His books include The Intimate Room: Theory and Technique of the Analytic Field; The Violence of Emotions: Bion and Post-Bion Psychoanalysis; Truth and the Unconscious; Sublime Subjects: Aesthetic Experience and Intersubjectivity in Psychoanalysis; and Psychoanalytic Field Theory: A Contemporary Introduction.
The Limits of Interpretation opens a window onto unexplored dimensions of Wilfred Bion´s thought, presenting essays that illuminate both familiar and lesser-known facets of his work. It guides readers through complex notions such as visible-invisible hallucinations, bizarre objects, and a radical reframing of the Oedipus complex – shifted from incest and parricide to arrogance and the desire for knowledge.
Taking various of Bion´s key works in turn, Civitarese explores what is unique about Bion´s thinking on essential topics such as projective identification, infantile development, and intuition, to shed light on the continued importance of Bion´s early work, in particular for contemporary psychoanalysis. By focusing on Bion´s Kleinian-phase essays, this volume highlights their pivotal role in comprehending his entire theoretical landscape and how far they extend beyond traditional Freudian and Kleinian frameworks. It even poses the question: was Bion ever truly a Kleinian?
Offering a close reading and clear interpretation of Bion´s sometimes dense writing, this is essential reading for any psychoanalysts or psychotherapists wanting to understand Bion´s work better.
1. Experiences in Groups as a Key to "Late” Bion 2. The Limits of Interpretation. A Reading of Bion´s "On Arrogance” 3. Invisible-Visual Hallucinations in Bion´s "Attacks on Linking” 4. The Concept of Time in Bion's "A Theory of Thinking” 5. Intuition and We-ness in Bion and Post-Bionian Field Theory 6. Bion´s O and His Pseudo-Mystical Path
The Limits of Interpretation opens a window onto unexplored dimensions of Wilfred Bion´s thought, presenting essays that illuminate both familiar and lesser-known facets of his work.
