The Correspondence Of Sigmund Freud And Sandor Ferenczi: Volume  2,  1914-1919. Edited by Emst Falzeder and Eva Brabant with Patrizia Giampieri-Deutsch translated by Peter T. Hoffer. Cambridge, MA:  Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 1996,  xlvi + 397 pp.

Sigmund Freud and Sándor Ferenczi are without doubt the two greatest pen pals in the history of psychoanalysis. This second volume of their correspondence, includes 341 letters that cover the period of World War I. Their closeness was intensified by Freud's isolation from colleagues whose countries were on the side of the Allies. The third volume will cover the period from 1920 to Ferenczi's death from pernicious anemia in 1933 at age 58, and will detail the growing conflicts in their relationship. Volume 1 covered the years from 1908 to 1914 and ends with a final letter that Freud wrote on June 28, 1914, an extraordinary statement about dedication to the cause (die Sache) and aloofness to the world:

I am writing under the impression of the surprising murder in Sarajevo, the consequences of which cannot be foreseen. It appears to me that personal involvement here is slight.

Now, to our affairs! … Still no cause to distinguish between ego libido and object libido. (Brabant, Falzeder, & Giampieri-Deutsch, 1993, No. 483, p. 562).

The next letter of consequence by Freud (No. 488, p. 2) expresses worries about Jones's interest in his daughter Anna as well as publishing matters and it is not until Ferenczi's letter of July 27, 1914 that world events are even mentioned:

As a conscript for the Home Guard I am not permitted to leave the country. It would be a piece of luck if I don't get called up. (No. 493, p. 9)

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on the following day (July 28, 1914).