Why Read Ogden? explores the importance of Thomas Ogden's work to contemporary psychoanalysis, both as an interpreter of classic psychoanalytic thinkers and as a new and original theorist and clinician in his own right.

Ogden writes about the literary genre of psychoanalytic writing, emphasising the amalgamation of theoretical and clinical writing with the author's personality. Ogden also considers psychoanalytic writing a form of thinking: We do not write what we think, but we are thinking something unprecedented in writing. Inspired by Ogden's proposal of a transitive and creative reading, which the authors show him to demonstrate in his own writing about Freud, Klein, Bion and Winnicott, this book takes as its organising principle the question of how Ogden's texts resonate with them personally. Ogden is regarded as one of the most important and influential living psychoanalysts, and this book addresses the lack of attention given to summarising and examining his key contributions.

This book will be essential reading for psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, in practice and in training, who wish to gain a comprehensive understanding of Ogden's work.

About the Author

Marina F. R. Ribeiro, PhD, is a psychoanalyst, associate professor and research supervisor and advisor for master's and PhD students in the Clinical Psychology Postgraduate Program at the University of Sao Paulo. She is also the author of several books and papers and most recently co-authored Reading Bion's Transformation (2024).

Reviews

'Why Ogden? is a compilation of papers that offers a scholarly assessment of Thomas Ogden's contributions to psychoanalysis in many aspects and through different angles. It is written and edited by leading Brazilian academics psychoanalysts and addresses not only Ogden's work but also the way through which he reads classic authors of psychoanalysis such as Freud, Klein, Bion and Winnicott. Ogden's writing never tries to merely explain a concept and never seeks to be revered: he invites the reader to think alongside him and reinvent psychoanalysis as a whole for him or herself. I was going to say that Ogden's work is vast, but it would be more accurate to say that the experience of being in the world with someone else, of living a shared story in a consulting room, is vast. Ogden is an explorer of this vastness.'

Elias Mallet da Rocha Barros is a training and supervising analyst and docent at the Brazilian Psychoanalytic Society of Sao Paulo (SBPSP); and a fellow of the British Psychoanalytic Society and Institute.

Book Information
ISBN 9781032729480
Author Marina F R Ribeiro
Format Hardback
Page Count 254
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd