The complete works of W. R. Bion

272 Pages·2017·11.818 MB·English

by  Wilfred Bion

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF
W. R. BION
VOLUME II
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The Little Cottage, Norfolk
Oil painting by WRB
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THE COMPLETE WORKS OF
W. R. BION
VOLUME II
Chris Mawson
Edited by
Editorial consultant Francesca Bion
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KARNAC
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First published in 2014 by
Karnac Books
118 Finchley Road
London NW3 5HT
Copyright © 2014 by The Estate of W. R. Bion
By permission of Paterson Marsh Ltd and Francesca Bion
The rights of Wilfred R. Bion and the editors and contributors to be identified as
the authors of this work have been asserted in accordance with §§ 77 and 78 of
the Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP record for this collection is available from the British Library
The Complete Works of W. R. Bion
ISBN (Complete set): 978–1–85575–603–8
ISBN (Volume II): 978–1–78220–230–1
This volume not to be sold separately
Edited, designed, and produced by Communication Crafts
Printed in Great Britain
www.karnacbooks.com
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CONTENTS
ALL MY SINS REMEMBERED: ANOTHER PART OF A LIFE 1
THE OTHER SIDE OF GENIUS: FAMILY LETTERS 77
Letters to Francesca 79
Letters to Parthenope, Julian and Nicola 187
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ALL MY SINS REMEMBERED:
ANOTHER PART OF A LIFE
1985
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All My Sins Remembered: Another Part of a Life and The Other Side of Genius: Family
Letters, were first published in 1985, in a single volume, by Fleetwood Press, Abing-
don; this was reprinted in 1991 by Karnac Books, London.
“Envoi”, by Francesca Bion, was delivered at the Memorial meeting for Dr Wilfred
Bion at the British Psychoanalytical Society on 20 February 1980 and published in
the International Review of Psychoanalysis, 8 (1981): 3–5; it was reproduced in the
original publication by kind permission of the Editor of that journal.
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EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION
In this volume, Bion’s autobiography continues with All My Sins Remem-
bered, the title of which is derived from the line, “The fair Ophelia!
Nymph, in thy orisons / Be all my sins rememb’red”, from Act 3, Scene
1, of Hamlet.
The Long Week-End and All My Sins Remembered cover the first
fifty years of Bion’s life. Partly because Bion’s depressive feelings figure
strongly in the pages of these, Francesca wished to give equal represen-
tation to the optimistic and loving side of the man, so she published with
the second book a selection of his letters to the family, written during
his last thirty or so years, giving it the title, The Other Side of Genius.
The letters require no further introduction and speak for themselves.
The “Envoi” by Francesca Bion, which concludes the book, is taken
from her contribution to the Memorial Meeting for Wilfred Bion held by
the British Psychoanalytical Society on 20 February 1980.
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