FALZEDER, E. & BRABANT, E. et al. (eds.). The Correspondence of Sigmund Freud and Sandor Ferenczi (Volume  3, 1920-1933) Translated by P. T. Hoffer. Cambridge, MA & London, UK:  The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2001. Pp.  xliv + 473. Hbk. £43. 50.

These letters provide a fascinating memoir of the final thirteen years of Sandor Ferenczi's life and his friendship with Freud. They have been meticulously translated,

edited and annotated. The few obscure patches and gaps, often coinciding with times the friends met up, are well supported by Judith Dupont's introduction, with reflections on key psychoanalytic ‘milestones’, and excellent notes at the end of each letter.

The correspondence is entertainingly gossipy, moving, and enlightening. European conflicts accompany professional themes and personal affection throughout the letters. For example, Freud wrote: ‘After we have truly shared everything in life with each other for ten years, the closing of the borders is now a severe deprivation’ (letter 837; March 1920).

Ferenczi lived in Budapest all his life. His first contact with the psychoanalytic movement was with Jung, whose Word Association experiments he admired. Jung introduced him to Freud in 1908 and Ferenczi was (incompletely) analysed by Freud (p. xxii and letter 1179). Initially, the three were close colleagues and friends, visiting the USA in 1909 for the famous lecture tour. During the rift between Jung and Freud in 1913, Ferenczi sided with Freud, and in some ways took over the role of favoured ‘son’ (Stanton 1990). Ferenczi founded the Hungarian Psycho-Analytic Society in 1913 and, from his position within the International Psycho-Analytic Society, vigorously promoted and defended psychoanalysis in Europe and the USA. Freud became increasingly anti-America or ‘Dollaria’ (letter 1105), in part because of American opposition to the training of lay analysts. This became a major issue in the psychoanalytic community (see letters 1036, 1088, etc).

Throughout the years, Ferenczi developed his own psychoanalytic ideas. Whilst ‘… striving to avoid everything with which you might not agree …’ Ferenczi wrote to Freud controversially: ‘… when I began to turn my attention to the mother-role of the analyst, I found