Table Of ContentThe Marion Milner Tradition
The Marion Milner Tradition provides a comprehensive overview of Milner’s eight-
volume oeuvre for the first time, and celebrates her pioneering achievements both in
the psychoanalytic world and in creative and scientific disciplines such as clinical and
organisational psychology, philosophy, mindfulness and spirituality, management
theory, art therapy, and art appreciation/criticism.
This volume considers Marion Blackett Milner through the prism of her innovative
engagement with people, art, and human experience, as well as her extraordinary con-
tribution as an original thinker and researcher within the Independent Group of the
British Psychoanalytical Society. The co-editors’ exploratory approach to her legacy
is as open as the spirit of Milnerean ‘discovery research’ in defining its distinctive
features. An assembly of fifty contributors were invited to interrogate the evolution of
what is becoming known as the Milner Tradition, demarcating her influence on theory
and clinical practice over the many decades of her life and since her death. They draw
upon their professional interviews or friendship with Marion Blackett Milner, or inti-
mate experience of her as an analyst, supervisor, or relative. Similarly, participants in
global reading groups in Australia, England, Greece, Northern Ireland, the Republic
of Ireland, and South Africa recount personal responses to their own exercise in ac-
tion research.
The plethora of riches in this book will be of interest to both new and veteran read-
ers of Milner’s opus, as well as students and practitioners from a variety of therapeutic
and other disciplines.
Margaret Boyle Spelman, PhD, is a chartered clinical and counselling psychologist,
psychoanalytic psychotherapist, and organisational psychologist who has been work-
ing for more than four decades with the Irish Health Service Executive and in private
practice. She is (ex officio) member of The Psychological Society of Ireland, The Irish
Council of Psychotherapy, and member of the European Association for Psychother-
apy. Margaret has two monographs on the subject of DW Winnicott and co-edited the
Winnicott volume in this series.
Joan Raphael-Leff, PhD, is a psychoanalyst (Fellow, British Psychoanalytical Society
and longstanding Member of the Group of Independent Psychoanalysts). Previously,
she was Professor of Psychoanalysis at UCL and the University of Essex. In 1998, she
founded and served as the first International Chair of COWAP, IPA’s Committee on
Women and Psychoanalysis. She is the author and editor of fourteen books and 150
single author publications. Now, in her retirement, she heads the UCL/Anna Freud
Centre Academic Faculty for Psychoanalytic Research.
Lines of Development
Evolution of Theory and Practice over the Decades Series
Series Editors: Joan Raphael-Leff, Aleksandar Dimitrijevic´ and Norka T. Malberg
The Anna Freud Tradition
Lines of Development – Evolution of Theory and Practice over the Decades
Edited By Norka T. Malberg and Joan Raphael-Leff
Fairbairn and the Object Relations Tradition
Edited By Graham S. Clarke and David E. Scharff
The Winnicott Tradition
Lines of Development – Evolution of Theory and Practice over the Decades
Edited By Margaret Boyle Spelman and Frances Thomson-Salo
The W.R. Bion Tradition
Edited By Howard B. Levine and Giuseppe Civitarese
The Lacan Tradition
Edited By Lionel Bailly and David Lichtenstein, Sharmini Bailly
The Klein Tradition
Lines of Development – Evolution of Theory and Practice over the Decades
Edited By Kay Long and Penelope Garvey
Ferenczi’s Influence on Contemporary Psychoanalytic Traditions
Lines of Development – Evolution of Theory and Practice over the Decades
Edited By Aleksandar Dimitrijevic´, Gabriele Cassullo and Jay Frankel
The Marion Milner Tradition
Lines of Development: Evolution of Theory and Practice over the Decades
Edited By Margaret Boyle Spelman and Joan Raphael-Leff
The Marion Milner Tradition
Lines of Development: Evolution of Theory
and Practice over the Decades
Edited by
Margaret Boyle Spelman and
Joan Raphael-Leff
Cover image: © Giles Milner and James W. Anderson and
Leon Kleimberg
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Margaret Boyle Spelman and
Joan Raphael-Leff; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Margaret Boyle Spelman and Joan Raphael-Leff to be
identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors
for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Boyle Spelman, Margaret, editor. | Raphael-Leff, Joan,
1941– editor.
Title: The Marion Milner tradition : lines of development : evolution of
theory and practice over the decades / edited by Margaret Boyle
Spelman and Joan Raphael-Leff.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. |
Series: The lines of development: evolution of theory and
practice over the decades series | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022015852 (print) | LCCN 2022015853 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781138359703 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138359758 (paperback) |
ISBN 9780429433535 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Milner, Marion, 1900-1998. | Psychoanalysts—Great
Britain—Biography. | Psychology—Great Britain—History.
Classification: LCC BF109.M55 M37 2023 (print) | LCC BF109.M55
(ebook) | DDC 150.195092 [B]—dc23/eng/20220729
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022015852
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022015853
ISBN: 978-1-138-35970-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-35975-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-43353-5 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9780429433535
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
For Beda, Astór and Saorla. For Julian.
Contents
List of figures xiii
Acknowledgements xv
About the Editors and Contributors xvii
Series editor’s introduction xxv
Prologue xxvii
MARGARET BOYLE SPELMAN
SECTION I
Marion Blackett Milner life and legacy 1
INTRODUCTION TO SECTION I 3
1 ‘Joy to be hidden’: thoughts from a biographer 5
EMMA LETLEY
2 Some essential concepts of Marion Blackett Milner: Framing,
Concentration, Absentmindedness, Rêverie 7
GABRIELE CASSULLO AND ALBERTO STEFANA
3 ‘The Pliable Medium’ 14
BARBIE ANTONIS AND ELIZABETH WOLF
4 Winnicott and Milner – recognising the legacy of collegial love 19
MARGARET BOYLE SPELMAN
5 The Use Creativity Can Make of Pain 27
MICHAEL EIGEN
6 Talking with Marion Milner about Donald W. Winnicott and about
herself (1981) 29
JAMES WILLIAM ANDERSON
viii Contents
7 ‘What a lovely woman’: my youthful encounters with Marion Milner
(1985–1998) 34
BRETT KAHR
8 Interview with Marion Milner (1990) 51
DEBORAH ANNA LUEPNITZ
9 ‘Tea’ with Marion Milner (1996) 56
LINDA HOPKINS
10 My friend, Marion Milner 61
ADAM PHILLIPS
(CONVERSATION WITH MARGARET BOYLE SPELMAN, LONDON 1ST MAY 2019)
SECTION II
Clinical applications: Marion Milner in the
psychoanalytic consulting room 69
INTRODUCTION TO SECTION II 71
11 ‘Access to darkly hidden powers’—the context to Marion Milner’s
psychoanalytic training and clinical work 72
JOAN RAPHAEL-LEFF
12 ‘My Analyst Marion Milner’ 78
ANDREAS GIANNAKOULAS
(TELEPHONE CONVERSATION WITH MARGARET BOYLE SPELMAN
JULY, 23RD 2009, ROME)
Preface to Chapters 13 and 14: Marion behind the couch 83
MARGARET BOYLE SPELMAN
13 ‘I was her last Training Case’ – analysis with Marion Milner and
supervision with Winnicott 85
PETER BRUGGEN
(CONVERSATIONS WITH MARGARET BOYLE SPELMAN: 27TH OF MAY
2005; 8TH OF JULY 2017)
14 ‘Marion was uniquely placed to understand’… (analyses with Marion
Milner and with Donald Winnicott) 88
ANDREW MALLESON
(CONVERSATIONS WITH MARGARET BOYLE SPELMAN: 6TH OF JUNE
2005; 3RD JANUARY, 2021)
Contents ix
15 Marion Milner: thinking together… (on her supervision with
Milner 1977–1978) 95
JULIET MITCHELL
16 ‘A meaningful encounter’ – my supervision with Marion Milner
(1990–1993) 98
LEON KLEIMBERG
17 ‘Holding and Visceral Attention’: bodily concentration of an analyst
under COVID-19 lockdown 100
MAIA KIRCHKHELI
SECTION III
Milner: art and creativity 111
INTRODUCTION TO SECTION III 113
18 ‘Milner and the origins of creativity’: from symbolism to symbol
formation and illusion 115
LESLEY CALDWELL
19 ‘The Chosen Medium’: Milner’s art 120
HUGH HAUGHTON
20 Introduction to Marion Milner’s work on creativity and art 125
ALBERTO STEFANA
21 Remembering Marion Milner (from 1981 to 1998) 134
DESY SAFÁN-GERARD
22 ‘Jugs, Mugs, and Goblets’: Comments on Marion Milner’s artistic insights 138
JENNIFER SCOTT
23 Scrappy observations 145
ALEANA EGAN
24 ‘A Deeper-rooted Kind of Knowing’ 153
WAYNE FEATHERSTONE
25 ‘What sort of Mrs Milner is she?’ Thinking the experience
mostly in words 164
THANASSIS HATZOPOULOS
FOR INTERNATIONAL WINNICOTT ASSOCIATION HELLENIC GROUP
