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Baden Baden, 27.4.1920
Dear Professor,
I do not know whether the changes in the article on the cross
please you, but they certainly clear up to some extent what was incomprehensible before. And a few more words will show you what strange things happen sometimes. The analysis really happened as I wrote it down, yet it could only turn out the way it did because the patient is my stepson who has been living in my house ever since he was in his eighth year. He is gifted with a highly imitative, lyrical talent which might perhaps turn creative one day. During the war he broke down with a grave neurosis and has been in treatment with me for the last two years with many interruptions. That he expresses himself like the hero of my novel is because he is jealous and embodies Thomas Weltlein34 in nature for me. The imitation of my person which has obviously contributed a lot to Thomas Weltlein plays a large part in the symptoms of his neurosis and probably in their causes too. Treating him has its attractions and its difficulties because of the close ties. Perhaps one day I shall have time to write down his case history: it is characterised by neurotic complexes, which produced a series of boils on the face and back, and is a typical example of the condition which originally made me learn to analyse patients suffering from so-called somatic illnesses.
I tried to work out why I did not immediately claim my copyright in the essential points, but invested my stepson with traits for which I am responsible and not he, even though he formally produced them under analysis. The revision shows you that this is due to the Christ myth. Something inside me warned me, but just as you sensed the distortion from the form of the article, so did some friends to whom I showed it. And I myself had an uncomfortable feeling about it. This has now gone since I have honoured the truth. I am very grateful to you for having taken this burden from me.
I would like to say something special about the artic