Letter from Sigmund Freud to Ernest Jones, July 7, 1935

7 July 1935
Vienna, IX. Berggasse 19

Dear Jones,

I am most delighted that you intend to include the “Selbstdarstellung” and “Hemmung, Symptom und Angst” in your Ps.a. Library, and I have asked Martin to contact you regarding the realization of this plan. J. Strachey is certainly the translator who would suit me best.

Your recognition of Ernst's capacity for work is balm to my paternal heart. I wish my other son in Nizza [Nice] also had a fatherland and a livelihood again.

Wälder is a great intellectual force and will certainly represent us well. Your endeavors to smooth out the differences which arose during a period of “splendid isolation” have my fullest sympathy. We still speak of Nesta's “charm.”1

Now, a further word from behind the scenes. I have been told that you are planning a special celebration for my 80th birthday. Well, apart from the possibility that it will not take place at all, and considering a telegram of condolence to be the only proper reaction to it happening, I think that neither the situation within analysis nor the general state of the world justify holding a celebration. If the need for such a display cannot be suppressed, it should be channeled into something involving a minimum of expense, commotion, and work. Perhaps something like an album with photographs of the members.

But warm thanks for your intentions!

Yours,

Freud