The Freud-Jones Letters

Despite over a hundred years of writings about the history of psychoanalysis, from the point of view of professional intellectual historians this field remains amateurish in terms of solid scholarship. This edition of the Freud-Jones letters illustrates many of the long-standing problems. Although Jones was never one of Freud's personal favorites, it takes a subtle reading of the evidence to see the full nature of the tensions between the two. It is surprising, given the length of this text, how much additional surviving material might profitably been added.

Aside from serious shortcomings to this edition of Freud's correspondence, for example the longstanding orthodox tilt against Sandor Ferenczi, nothing like the tendentiousness associated with other editions of Freud's letters has taken place here. Future generations who get to see the full volumes of Freud's letters are going to have trouble recreating the human circumstances under which he was working. The Freud-Jones letters will remain of key interest to specialists. By now most know certain key historiographical failings on Jones's part, and it may be time now to underline how much he succeeded in accomplishing.