Time Present and Time Past: Selected Papers

"This is an extraordinary collection of papers by an extraordinary psychoanalyst. Pearl King has contributed to psychoanalysis, as analyst, teacher, office-bearer, writer and, not least, as a stimulating and wise colleague, for more than five decades." – Ken Robinson from the Introduction

This remarkable collection of papers is divided into three sections: clinical issues; psychoanalysis and the life cycle; and the underlying theories. The papers span from 1951 to 2004, recording five decades of British psychoanalysis, through various angles. Pearl King’s outstanding contribution to British psychoanalysis has shaped the psychoanalytic community in this country as it is today and the papers in this volume chart the progress of the author as a psychoanalyst, with the background of various important events in the psychoanalytic community.

The papers in the clinical part include a unique, lengthy case study of psychoanalysis of a four-year-old boy and a follow-up of his life five decades later, as written by the patient himself. The second part of the book, on psychoanalysis and the life cycle, includes renowned chapters on ageing. The author looks at the ageing psychoanalyst as well as the characteristics of analysis with older patients. The third part discusses the theories underlying Pearl King’s practice and puts forward her take on such concepts as alienation, countertransference, and the question of time in psychoanalysis.