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