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20 November 1908
Vienna, IX. Berggasse 19
My dear Dr. Jones,
Since you want me to avoid german characters I might as well try to write you in English; you are responsible for my mistakes.
Your critical remarks on Stekel's book are obviously true, you have hit the mark. He is weak in theory and thought but he has a good flair for the meaning of the hidden and unconscious. His book cannot satisfy us personally but it will do immensily good among the outsiders his level being so very much near to theirs. I am glad you like Abraham's work far better, he is a sharp thinker and has set his foot on fertile ground. The
next number of the collection will continue to accost the subject of Mythology which I guess is to be conquered by our views.1
Do write the “Wunscherfüllung in Kinderspielen”2 for the series. Do it in English, I will get it translated here or translate it myself, if it suits my purpose as it is sure to do.
As for your and Brill's intention about writing those articles for M. Prince's journal, I heartily agree with you and wish you had already done it. It might be the best way to introduce my teaching to your countrymen, perhaps much more efficacious than a translation of my papers. I cannot enter into the detail of the arrangement, you propose; you will find your way through the matter yourself. The journal I will take as soon as you can announce me the first article. If you miss this wave of favour perhaps you will have to wait long time for the next. It is interesting for me that you prefer the broader aspects of the theory, the normal, psychological and cultural relations to the pathological ones; sometimes I feel the same way.
I am sorry you will be disappointed at my answers to the questions you put me. As for Anaesthesia I am inclined to think that it is a secondary effect of the psychical changes, brought about by withdrawal of interest (Besetzung),3 perhaps the erogene zone of the skin being particularly involved in the unconscious complexes. I know nothing