The Freudian Matrix of ​André Green

Book excerpt: The Freudian Matrix of André Green presents seven papers, never previously published in English, that will allow readers to more closely follow and more fully understand the development of Green’s unique psychoanalytic thinking. The chapters in this book provide valuable insight into Green’s response to a perceived crisis in psychoanalysis. His thinking synthesizes the work of Lacan, Winnicott, Bion and other post-Freudian authors with his own extensive clinical experience, and results in a much needed extension of psychoanalytic theory and practice to non-neurotic patients. Green’s focus on drives, affect and the work of the negative and his introduction and exploration of the Dead Mother complex, narcissism, negative hallucination and the death instinct constitute a vital expansion of Freudian metapsychology and its application to the clinical setting. The Freudian Matrix of André Green will be essential reading for psychoanalysts in practice and in training, and for any reader looking to understand more about the enormity of his contribution.