Attempted Seduction: The Kurt Eissler–Margaret Severn Letters; A Brief Love Affair

Forty years ago, Jeffrey Masson published The Assault on Truth condemning Freud for abandoning his 1896 “seduction theory,” which attributed neurosis to child sexual abuse. This theoretical shift led Freud to incorporate unconscious fantasy and infantile sexuality into his framework of psychoanalysis. Masson's book highlighted Sandor Ferenczi's patient Elizabeth Severn's role in helping Ferenczi challenge Freud's fantasy–based theory and develop trauma–focused views of mental illness. Kurt Eissler, New York psychoanalyst and Freud Archives director who was grooming Masson as his successor, sacked him for challenging Freud. Eissler set out to write a book defending Freud against Masson's attack. Eissler challenged the veracity of Severn's account of childhood abuse in Ferenczi's Clinical diary, which influenced his controversial 1932 “Confusion of tongues” paper returning to a trauma theory. In 1985, Eissler tracked down Elizabeth's daughter Margaret Severn, beginning a yearlong correspondence. Eissler courted Margaret sending letters, cards, and chocolates, to gain her trust, attempting to seduce and probe Margaret for biographical information about her mother. However, upon reading Masson's book, Margaret realized Eissler's hidden agenda to discredit her mother's story and refute Masson's arguments. Through unpublished letters between Eissler and Margaret, we explore this provocative story of intrigue, drama, and seduction within Freudian and psychoanalytic history.