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1 June 1911
407 Brunswick Avenue
Toronto
Dear Professor Freud,
I am very grateful to you for your kind letter that came this week. There was no possibility of my “resenting” your excellent advice, but I felt distressed that the circumstances were so complicated that I could not do them justice in a letter. You may rely on me to do the best I can in the business. Things are slowly developing, and I hope soon to be able to write more definitely.
There are some points in your letter to answer. In regard to infantile theories I am extremely interested, and am busy collecting them. I often feel embarrassed however when I think that probably a given one is banal to all you people in Europe, and therefore not worth mentioning. Still when I have put together something I can submit it to you for your opinion, if you will be so kind. You must have noticed the interesting fact that the explanations given by adults (finding under cabbages, etc.) are only disguised versions of true infantile theories; they are worth working out in detail, I should think.
I am sorry about Adler, and cannot understand such strong fixation. In a recent letter to me he made a curious remark, about Hamlet. “Und Ihnen brauche ich es ja nicht zu sagen; Hamlet, das ist eine Herzenssache”.1 He was explaining why he didn't care to review my book himself. All I know about the Oedipus-complex is that it is exceedingly difficult to overcome.