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BION IN NEW YORK AND SAO PAULO BION IN NEW YORK AND SAO PAULO AND THREE TAVISTOCK SEMINARS Wilfred R. Bion THE HARRIS MELTZER TRUST First published in 1980 by Clunie Press for The Roland Harris Educational Trust edited by Francesca Bion New expanded edition published in 2018 by The Harris Meltzer Trust 60 New Caledonian Wharf London SE16 7TW This edition edited and introduced by Meg Harris Williams Copyright © 1980 The Roland Harris Educational Trust Copyright © 2018 The Harris Meltzer Trust The right of Wilfred R. Bion to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with §§ 77 and 78 of the Copyright Design and Patent 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 C.I.P. for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 912567 63 08 Edited, designed and produced by The Bourne Studios www.bournestudios.co.uk Printed in Great Britain www.harris-meltzer-trust.org.uk CONTENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR vii EDITORIAL NOTES ix INTRODUCTION: Themes and conversation by Meg Harris Williams xiii SECTION ONE: New York Seminars, 1977 1 SECTION TWO: São Paulo Seminars, 1978 83 SECTION THREE: Three Tavistock Seminars, 1977 149 APPENDIX: Bion’s conception of a psychoanalytical attitude by Martha Harris 217 INDEX 223 v ABOUT THE AUTHOR Wilfred Ruprecht Bion (1897–1979) was born in India in the days of the British Raj, and was sent to school in England at the age of eight. During the First World War he joined the Tank Corps and served in France where he was awarded the DSO. After the war he read History at Queen’s College, Oxford, studied medicine at University College London, and then turned to psychoanalysis, to which he devoted the remaining fifty years of his life. He had analyses with John Rickman and then Melanie Klein. During the Second World War he and Rickman were in charge of the psychiatric rehabilitation wing at the Northfield military hospital. He was president of the British Psychoanalytical Society from 1962 to 1965 and moved to California in 1968, returning to England two months before his death in 1979. Bion’s books include: Experiences in Groups (1961), Learning from Experience (1962), Elements of Psycho-analysis (1963), Transformations (1965), Second Thoughts (1967), Attention and Interpretation (1970). He also wrote the autobiographical A Memoir of the Future (3 volumes, 1975–79), The Long Week-End, and All My Sins Remembered. In addition to many papers, there are several collections of his talks and seminars. vii EDITORIAL NOTES Author’s note to first edition I thank all who participated in these discussions with their objections and agreements. Many who read this book will feel that my replies are inadequate and incomplete. That they are inadequate I must admit; that they are incomplete I regard as a virtue especially if it stimulates the reader to complete the answers. I wish the reader as much enjoyment as I had in speaking; if it sends him to sleep may I wish him ‘Sweet Dreams and a profitable awakening’. W. R. B. Notes by Francesca Bion, editor of the first edition Wilfred Bion died in Oxford on November 8 1979 less than a week after he was diagnosed as suffering from myeloid leukaemia. The content of this book was approved by him in 1978. The two series of discussions form an illuminating contrast: The 1979 South American visit was Bion’s third to São Paulo and