Winnicott: Life and Work [Hardcover]

F. Robert Rodman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2003

This beautifully written and long-awaited biography is the first full-scale life of the great British psychoanalyst, a major figure both in psychiatry and as a principle influence on the leading child development experts of our time, including Brazelton, Spock, and Stanley Greenspan.A pediatrician turned analyst, D. W. Winnicott rose to prominence in the stormy days when the followers of Anna Freud were battling those of Melanie Klein for the right to be called Freud's true intellectual heirs. This rich, witty, and insightful story probes the autobiographical sources of Winnicott's influential concepts, such as the "holding environment" so crucial to psychotherapy and the "transitional object" known to every parent as the "security blanket." Winnicott's astonishing career involves many of the great figures in psychoanalysis and psychology, not just Klein and Anna Freud but the whole eccentric Bloomsbury scene including the Stracheys, R. D. Laing, and the controversial Pakistani prince and analyst Masud Khan.Readers of Oliver Sacks, Janet Malcolm, and Peter Gay, as well as anyone interested in the great explorers of human nature, will find this book passionately absorbing.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A comprehensive biography...Rodman provides rich details about the roots of modern psychoanalytic thought...thorough research and clear writing." -- New England Psychologist August/September 2003

"Rodman's book on Winnicott is important...A contribution to our understanding of one of the greatest psychoanalysts of modern time." -- Metapsychology 9/4/03

"The first full-scale biography of Winnicott...Useful...This is a very welcome biography." -- American Journal of Psychiatry December 2003

"[Rodman is] industrious and astute and professionally alert...[He performs admirably." -- London Review of Books 03/04/04

About the Author

F. Robert Rodman, M.D., a leading psychoanalyst, is the author of Not Dying ("A superbly intelligent, courageous testament"- San Francisco Examiner) and Keeping Hope Alive, as well as the editor of a much-admired volume of Winnicott's letters, The Spontaneous Gesture. He lives and practices in Beverly Hills, California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (April 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738203971
• ISBN-13: 978-0738203973
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #447,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Winnicott in depth, in thought, September 18, 2005

By 

N. Szajnberg - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Winnicott: Life and Work (Hardcover)

The finest book on DWW I have read. It is several books in one: a biography, an intellectual biography, and an account of the goings-on in London's PSa circles, weaving together the personal and the ideas which arose at the time. This book is an excellent elaboration of the earlier bio of DWW by Kahr.

Nathan Szajnberg, MD
Cl. Professor, UCSF
Wallerstein Research Fellow in Psychoanalysis
Member IPSR, UC Berkeley

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Choppy, June 3, 2009

By 

Gherardini "Gherardini" (Heraclitusville) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Winnicott: His Life And Work (Paperback)

I have not read Dr. Rodman's previous book on Winnicott's correspondence. However, this book seemed to me like an expansion of it. The effect of this style was to make the narrative choppy and uneven. While there were some tasty passages that inspired me to finish the book, these were too infrequent and distracted from by the over-reliance on quoted correspondence.

5.0 out of 5 stars Bringing the discoverer of the Transitional Object to life., November 27, 2011

By 

Dlifs - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Winnicott: His Life And Work (Paperback)

Purchased from Amazon, Winnicott: His Life And Work is a wonderful and well written biography. It clearly explains Dr Winnicott's theoretical development, and where and how he disagrees with Freud and Klein, as well as illustrates that Winnicott was a human being with many significant personal problems he struggled with. It also portrays very nicely the politics that went on in London among the Kleinians, Freudians, and Anna Freud during the period. It is well annotated, for example it cites the only available source to find a clear write up of what is was like to be in psychoanalysis with Dr. Winnicott (A biography of Harry Guntrip who was in psychoanalysis with Dr. W.) It made Winnicott and his work come alive for me; and inspired me to return and reread his significant papers with renewed interest, and a better understanding of their utility in a clinical setting.