The Letters of Sigmund Freud and Otto Rank by E. James Lieberman & Gregory C. Richter

Author:E. James Lieberman & Gregory C. Richter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2012-12-27T16:00:00+00:00

[Tuesday] February 26, 1924

Lieber Herr Doktor:

I hope you’ve recovered on schedule and will again be participating. Given the current situation with my ability to speak and the resulting mood—in the last two weeks we made no progress with the prosthesis—it’s not likely that I’ll attend the meeting of the Society on Wednesday. In that case, though, by [Wednesday] March 5 I would have seen you too infrequently, given that the situation presents us with much to consider. So I inquire whether you should come for dinner before and work afterwards.

Cordially yours, Freud

That day Abraham sent Freud a denunciation of Ferenczi and Rank. He saw in both books “manifestations of a scientific regression that correspond, down to the smallest detail, with the symptoms of Jung’s renunciation of Psa.” He remembered warning Freud about Jung at the Salzburg Congress of 1908; Freud dismissed it then as jealousy. Abraham foresaw the disintegration of the Committee and a damaging effect on psychoanalysis resulting from the two books. He would make a Committee meeting before the IPA Congress a priority.

Dr. Otto Rank Wien Grünangergasse 3–5 ¶February 26, 1924

Dear Professor!

After staying in bed for eight days I’m halfway back to normal routine, i.e. I conduct analyses in the morning and rest in the afternoon. On Wednesday Deutsch wants to try to let me go out for the first time, and if nothing stops me, I’ll be there. Whether I’ll be able to go out again this week depends on my success the first time; I’ll take the liberty of contacting you by phone. Perhaps we could make an appointment for Sunday morning. However, I’d appreciate seeing you before March 5 evening, when the discussion of my book postponed from last week takes place. On the other hand, in the March 1 Rundbrief we have to answer the question as to the meeting of the Congress.

Please allow me to ask you again later in the week when I can come. In the meantime you will hopefully be in complete possession of the new prosthesis!

With cordial greetings. Yours, Rank

Freud answered Abraham’s challenge at length on March 4, stating with reassurance that although he is closer to Rank and Ferenczi geographically, Abraham’s standing in friendship and esteem is no lower. He admits to a similar apprehension, recalling his own jocular comment that anyone else would “set up on his own” with Rank’s innovation—but he stresses “anyone else,” noting that Jung had strong “neurotic and selfish motives … his crooked character did not compensate me for his lopsided theories.” Ferenczi and Rank are different, their motives good, they may fall into error as happens in scientific work. Assuming the extreme, that they conclude the birth trauma takes precedence over the Oedipus complex, then “physiological chance” (how traumatic was the birth, or how sensitive the newborn) would establish etiology. “What further damage would ensue? We could remain under the same roof with the greatest calmness, and after a few years’ work it would become evident whether one side had exaggerated a valuable finding or the other had underrated it.

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