Solnit saw play as a signature expression of the child's personality - something he linked to Winnicott's concept of the
transitional object.[2]
Solnit also emphasised the importance in an ongoing life of constructing "a useful and self-respecting past...a crucial aspect of the individual's sense of free will is a knowledge of his own history that does not dominate".[3]
In a series of books co-authored with
Anna Freud and legal scholar
Joseph Goldstein, he stressed the importance of the psychological needs of the child in custody law.[4]
Bibliography
Sole-authored works
Memory as Preparation: Development and Psychoanalytic Perspectives. (1984) London: University College.
Co-authored volumes
Senn MJE, Solnit AJ. Problems in child behavior and development (1970). Lea & Feibeger.
Goldstein J, Freud A, Solnit AJ. Beyond the best interests of the child. Vol. 1. (1973) New York: Free Press.
Goldstein J, Freud A, Solnit AJ. Before the best interests of the child. Vol. 2. (1979) New York: Free Press.
Goldstein J, Freud A, Solnit AJ, Goldstein S. In the best interests of the child. Vol. 3. (1986) New York: Free Press.
Goldstein S, Solnit AJ. Divorce and your child: Practical suggestions for parents (1985) New Haven: Yale University Press.
Solnit AJ, Cohen DJ, Neubauer PB. The many meanings of play: A psychoanalytic perspective (1993) New Haven: Yale University Press.
Solnit AJ, Nordhaus B, Lord R. When home is no haven: Child placement issues (1994). New Haven: Yale University Press.
Edited volumes
Solnit AJ, Neubauer PB, Abrams S, Dowling AS. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child