Letter from Sigmund Freud to C. G. Jung, March 24, 1912

24 March 1912, Vienna, IX. Berggasse 19

Dear friend,

In spite of all my resolutions, I must write to you again.

I congratulate you on your trip to America, of co you were right in accepting. I wired you because before you communicate with the local groups I should like to acquaint you with my misgivings

about holding the Congress on 19-20 August. My objections are of a general and personal nature, some of them no doubt both at once.

To start from the bottom up, with the personal factors: this date would cut my hard-earned and much longed-for holidays in two. I shall be in Karlsbad with my wife until about 10 August; after that I don't know where we shall be, but a week or so later I should have to start travelling again. August in Munich would probably be torture and the heat most unconducive to concentrated mental effort. The same applies to the other participants, even if they are not in Karlsbad at the time; their holidays would be interrupted and they would certainly suffer from the heat.

Besides, I have the impression that there is no need for a congress this year. Too little has happened since the last one. Our meetings thus far have been so splendid that we ought not to run the risk of an anticlimax.

I think your trip provides excellent justification for skipping the Congress; everyone will admit that it serves the interests of ΨA.

I submit these considerations, some of which also apply to the latest possible date, the end of September, to your judgment. I am quite willing to read Frau Lou A. S.'s essay. — I am afraid what you say about Binswanger agrees with my own impressions. — Compulsory speaking was abandoned long ago in the Vienna Society, but the effect is still with us. At present most of the members are glad to speak and carry the others along with them. I recommend it highly as an educational measure.

Today I am sending you the second edition of Gradiva. With kind regards,