ABSTRACT
As the title of this presentation indicates, I shall limit myself to a narrowly confined aspect of object relations. It is a topic that defies precise circumscription partially due to its vast ramifications and to its still contentious and unsettled place in psychoanalytic theory. The fact that my chosen subject is one of momentous importance in human life requires no persuasion nor testimony. In choosing it I emphasize a current trend in clinical and theoretical psychoanalysis. I shall begin with a brief overview of recent developments as well as the historical ones in the orbit of son and father.
