This book consists of a selection of psychoanalytic works that discuss a variety of theoretical and clinical issues within the perspective of the growing body of Bionian studies.

Giuseppe Civitarese is a psychiatrist with a PhD in psychiatry and relational sciences. He is a member of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society (SPI) and of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA), both affiliated to the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA). His previous publications include The Intimate Room: Theory and Technique of the Analytic Field.

Sabbadini, Preface. Foreword. 'Caesura' as Bion's discourse on method. Under the cover of darkness. The burning body: The perception of psychic qualities and hypochondria. The cat's eyes: Internal focalization and casting in the psychoanalytic dialogue. The equation analysis/painting and the aesthetics of the real. Aesthetic conflict and the a function. The analyst's internal setting and its discontent. From the mystical writing pad to the a function: Metaphors of text and translation in Freud and Bion.