Queer
Places:
Golders Green Crematorium
Golders Green, London Borough of Barnet, Greater London, England
Melanie
Klein née Reizes (30 March 1882 – 22 September 1960) was an
Austrian-British author and
psychoanalyst who is known for her work in
child analysis. She was the primary figure in the development of
object relations theory. Academic debates concerning the meaning of lesbianism
in the last quarter of the twentieth century frequently have turned upon the
interpretation of same-sex desire and identification within psychoanalytic
theory. Influenced by the writings Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, Helene
Cixous, and Melanie Klein, many theorists argue that the crux of
lesbian desire lies in the preoedipal relation between mother and daughter,
which they privilege as a primordial intimacy.
Klein suggested that pre-verbal
existential anxiety in infancy catalyzed the formation of the unconscious,
resulting in the unconscious splitting of the world into good and bad
idealizations. In her theory, how the child resolves that splitting
depends on the constitution of the child and the character of nurturing the
child experiences; the quality of resolution can inform the presence, absence,
and/or type of distresses a person experiences later in life.[1]
Melanie Klein was born into a Jewish family and spent most of her early
life in
Vienna. She was the fourth and final child of parents Moriz, a doctor, and
Libussa Reizes.[2]Educated
at the
Gymnasium, Klein planned to study medicine. Her family's loss of wealth caused her to change
her plans.
At the age of 21 she married an industrial chemist, Arthur Klein, and soon
after gave birth to their first child,
Melitta. While she would go on to bear two additional children, Klein
suffered from clinical depression, with these pregnancies taking quite a toll
on her. This and her unhappy marriage soon led Klein to seek treatment.
Shortly after her family moved to Budapest in 1910, Klein began a course of
therapy with psychoanalyst
Sándor Ferenczi. It was during their time together that Klein expressed
interest in the study of psychoanalysis.
Encouraged by Ferenczi, Klein began her studies by observing her own
children.[3]
Until this time, only minimal documentation existed on the topic of
psychoanalysis in children, Klein took advantage of this by developing her "play
technique". Similar to that of
free association in adult psychoanalysis, Klein's play technique sought to
interpret the unconscious meaning behind the play and interaction of children.
During 1921, with her marriage failing, Klein moved to Berlin where she
joined the Berlin Psycho-Analytic Society under the tutelage of
Karl
Abraham. Although Abraham supported her pioneering work with children,
neither Klein nor her ideas received much support in Berlin. As a divorced
woman whose academic qualifications did not even include a bachelor's degree,
Klein was a visible iconoclast within a profession dominated by male
physicians. Nevertheless, Klein's early work had a strong influence on the
developing theories and techniques of psychoanalysis, particularly in Great
Britain.
Invited by Ernest Jones, Klein moved to London in 1926, where she worked
until her death in 1960.
In 1934 Paula Heimann became
Melanie Klein's secretary. In 1935 they started working together on analysis
and became close associates.
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Melanie Klein and Anna Freud
Her theories on
human developmenta and
defense mechanisms were a source of controversy, as they conflicted with
Freud's theories on development, and caused much discussion in the world
of developmental psychology. Around the same time Klein presented her ideas,
Anna
Freud was doing the very same. The two became unofficial rivals of sorts,
amid the protracted debates between the followers of Klein and the followers
of Freud. Amid these so-called 'controversial
discussions', the
British Psychoanalytical Society split into three separate training
divisions: (1) Kleinian, (2) Freudian, and (3) Independent. These debates
finally ceased with an agreement on a dual approach to instruction in the
field of child analysis.
My published books:
BACK TO HOME PAGE
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie_Klein
- Lesbian Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1
Bonnie Zimmerman
Taylor & Francis, 2000