Letter from Sándor Ferenczi to Sigmund Freud, August 21, 1923

Klobenstein, August 21, 1923

Dear Professor,

I am looking forward to being able to see you again and to speak with you. Brill, about whose comet-like appearance and disappearance you have already been informed,1 told us you were completely healthy, but one prefers to convince oneself personally.—The day in Lavarone will be a worthy conclusion to a summer of work. I had an American woman along here, to

whom I gave hours, wrote the (to you, well-known) Theory of Genitality, and revised with Rank—about five times—the “joint work,” about which we would still like to talk to you. I didn't want to burden you in the summer with reading the manuscript of the “Theory of Genitality”; Rank has already read it and will present it to you on request.

I hope that the Committee meeting will conclude peacefully; Eitingon's presence, especially, will contribute much to it. I also hope we will succeed in restoring complete understanding between Rank and Abraham. With Jones the matter is somewhat more difficult, since personal factors also figure in there. But we think it is not yet time to act more energetically against him, although we want to call him to account for certain things.2

Rank and I would have liked to come to Lavarone for a few days, but refrained from doing so in order not to arouse the jealousy of the rest of the Committee members.

Urbantschitsch was here recently, expressly for the purpose of talking to me about his sanatorium plans. He claimed that you had decided to work along; under this condition I also agreed in principle [pending getting back to talk with you].3 Perhaps the sanatorium would be a chance for psychoanalysis; something for Rank's future could also be done there.4

My wife, who has been feeling well up to now, but who is at the moment going through the “Klobenstein intestinal catarrh”5 and is bedridden, sends greetings to you all.

In concordance with that, I am

Yours truly,