Richard Beer-Hofmann And Theodor Reik: A Letter In Exile*

The importance of the Austrian writer Richard Beer-Hofmann (1866-1945) for Theodor Reik (1888-1969) can best be described as formative. Briefly, Beer-Hofmann, 22 years older than Reik, served as a friend, admirer, and counselor to Reik in both Europe and the United States. His poetic, dramatic, and narrative works were a source of emotional release for Reik's own poetic and analytical inspirations,5 and his literary writings also afforded Reik hope2 and sustained him in times of trouble. In 1911 Reik wrote his first book, and this “pamphlet,” as Reik termed it, was on Beer-Hofmann. As is evident from even a cursory perusal of Reik's numerous books, he often refers to literary works and writers,3 such as Goethe, Flaubert, Schnitzler, Heine, Ibsen and Shakespeare. Included among these authors, of course, belongs Richard Beer-Hofmann. The letter to be examined, which is published here for the first time, is addressed to Beer-Hofmann's daughter, Miriam Beer-Hofmann Lens, after whom, incidentally, Reik was to name his own daughter.7 To be sure, the letter posits several provocative questions. Before examining this document and its relation to Listening With The Third Ear, however, it is instructive to first clarify some additional salient features of the friendship between Beer-Hofmann and Reik.