Written by Lou Salomé in 1934, a few years before her death, this is neither autobiography nor comprehensive history. To gain a perspective on her, including her relationship with Freud, one must look to other sources (especially Pfeiffer's collection of the Freud-Salomé correspondence1). She was an accomplished author, the friend and confidante of Nietzsche, later Rilke's lover, and an active member of various European intellectual circles. According to Gay, she was "brilliant, attractive, knowledgeable and productive"; "a grand dame, a collector of philosophers and poets." He describes her as "spectacular and seductive, a powerful, voluptuous figure, with an appetite for men, especially brilliant ones."2