Following in the footsteps of philosopher Ernst Cassirer, who described the human being as a symbolic animal, Levy takes readers on an extraordinary journey to the heart of contemporary psychoanalytic theory by examining the central role that symbolic processes-their vicissitudes, possibilities, and failures-play in psychic functioning, emotional development, the formation of the self, and the therapeutic action of the analytic process. Readers of all levels will emerge with a heightened sense of the applicability, power, and ongoing evolution of psychoanalytic theory and practice in the twenty-first century. Howard B. Levine, MD, Editor-in-Chief The Routledge W. R. Bion Studies Series