Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a chronological study of Wilfred R. Bion's work, to enable the reader to follow the development of his ideas and technique. It is divided into two parts: before and after the caesura. The book gives some background to the evolution of Bion's ideas, and discusses Bion as a character, the philosophical influences on his work and the links between his work and that of Freud, Melanie Klein, D. W. Winnicott, Jung and Jacques Lacan. It collects the views of different authors on Bion's theoretical work on the one hand, and on his theory of groups on the other. Winnicott was twice president of the British Psychoanalytical Society and Bion was president in the period in-between. The book follows the clear division between Bion's work on transformations in Knowledge and his work on transformations in O.