Letter from Sigmund Freud to Sándor Ferenczi, July 20, 1912

Karslbad, July 20, 1912

Dear friend,

We are living here in the “Goldener Schlüssel” [Golden Key]. “Freund-schaftssaal” is our breakfast room. The young man's visit naturally ended with an acknowledgment of the engagement, which is supposed to be made public on the 28th of this month in the Neue Presse. There you have an at-the-time unintended overdetermination to the motif of the “three sisters” or three daughters.1

I am very glad to hear that you have remained consistently firm against Elma and have thwarted her tricks. It can only work in that way, if it works at all. It was a strong step on your part to get beyond the infantile confines.

ΨA lies far behind me in an unreal glow, although conversations with Emden promise to arouse it from its sleep. This time the cure has had no bad general effects as in the previous year, but I am completely closed off intellectually. The Emdens thank you for your greeting; they are, as always, charming company. We are very amused by the reports about the meeting of the Dutch neurologists on the 3rd of this month,2 in which he appeared for the first time as a beginner. The presenter Boumann3 was half convinced, by the way. I have news from Brill. He can be here in September, but he will not be able to stay with us for the entire three weeks of the trip. I would not like to leave beautiful Lake Caldonazzo before September 10, and I expect that, if traveling doesn't bother you any more than before, you will also come see us there.

I have been hearing here, by way of Emden, about the book on thinking animals, and I have the impression that there is not yet a need for thought transference here. The intelligence of animals fits in splendidly with our views on cs. and ucs.

I have received no reply or other news from Jung for about five weeks, but I will also continue to maintain a passive attitude. I send kind regards in expectation of news from you.

Yours truly,

Freud