For nearly a century, Freud's “Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-year-old Boy” (1909) has been read mainly—if often critically—with Freud's conscious aim in mind: providing evidence for the central importance of oedipal conflict. Material recently released by the Freud Archives casts new light on Freud's treatment of Hans's mother, Olga Graf (nee Hönig)—which began at the height of his self-analysis in 1897—and of Hans himself. Read in the enriched context of new information from Eissler's interviews with Max Graf and Herbert Graf, two texts—Freud's 1897 letters to Fliess and the 1909 case history—illuminate possible personal motives for Freud's insistence on the primacy of oedipal conflict.

And the shades of loved ones appear; With them, like an old, half-forgotten myth, First love and friendship.