ABSTRACT
Melanie Klein's intense involvement in her work explains much of her character. Melanie Klein's technique is used and developed by her immediate pupils and followers, but the influence both of her theories and her technique has spread well beyond those known as 'Kleinians'. Klein, from the beginning of her work, aimed at interpreting at the level at which she thought anxiety was active and at which the patient operated. The influence Melanie Klein had on psychoanalytic technique begins with child analysis, and extends beyond the work of her immediate followers and pupils. She has been described by some as warmhearted, tolerant and good-tempered; by others as intolerant, aggressive and demanding. She once described herself as primarily a very passionate person. Her uncompromising attitude about her work made her many enemies, but she was a powerful personality and commanded almost universal respect.
