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This book contains the correspondence between Freud and Edoardo Weiss from the years 1918-1938. It not only shows us Freud as a consultant to a colleague thirty years younger than himself, but also makes us keenly aware of the change in psychoanalytic training and technique. Some of these letters have been published previously, but this book brings together the complete correspondence for the first time.
One is astounded to learn how uncomplicated it was at that period to become a recognized psychoanalyst. In 1908 Edoardo Weiss came from his native town of Trieste to Vienna to study medicine. Sincerely interested in the young science of psychoanalysis and troubled by some personal psychological problems, he went to Freud, was cordially received by the Professor, and advised to undergo a personal analysis if he intended to become an analyst himself. After the completion of his medical studies and a classical analysis with Dr. Paul Federn—for whom Weiss maintained a lifelong admiration and affection—he was made a member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. He was twenty-four years old when admitted to the weekly Wednesday meetings. In 1918 Weiss established himself in Trieste which, after the first World War, had become a part of Italy. Freud was enthusiastic about his science taking root in a country he loved for its culture and beauty.
From that time on a correspondence developed in which Freud supervised—as we would call it today—many of Weiss's more difficult cases. Weiss would send long, detailed descriptions to Vienna and receive regular answers in which Freud's judgment and advice were expressed in the most gentle and encouraging manner. It was taken for granted that the analyst had consultations with the parents of patients and advised them, if necessary, how to deal with them. These patients were mainly young adults. In some cases, Weiss would travel with his patient, and at times with the parents as well, to Vienna for a consultation with the Prof