Elenore Fliess writes a sketch of her husband. She met him after he emigrated to the United States, while he was struggling to practice medicine with principles very much informed by both his father and Freud. He did not gain acceptance as a physician, and he turned his energies to psychoanalysis. The portrait offered to us is of a deeply committed man with meticulous interest in the science and scholarship of his field. He spent four years writing his dream book because he insisted on reviewing all that had been published. His experiences with his father and his first analyst (who was psychotic) led him to challenge Freud's second seduction hypothesis. He deeply believed that severe actual traumata, such as sexual abuse, formed the basis for serious disturbances in the adult. He also countered Freud's view of women. In particular, he argued that the female genital "can vary in its aesthetic appeal as can any other part of the body." Interspersed with the articulations of his intellectual life are poignant and loving insights into Robert Fliess, person and husband.