You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
June 18, 1897
Dear Wilhelm,
Fathomless and bottomless laziness, intellectual stagnation, summer dreariness, vegetative well-being — that is the reason for my neither having replied to your very interesting letter nor having written a new one. Since the last thrust nothing has stirred and
nothing has changed; I recall with gratification your mentioning our next congress in your letter, but — so far — you would have to bear the full burden of it alone. I hope you did not think that the majority that proposed me [for the professorship] on June 12 made me too proud to write letters.
In times like these my reluctance to write is downright pathological; for talking I have occasion enough: apart from lectures and six cases, there is my pupil Dr. Gattel, who greatly pleases me by his intelligence and who spends a good deal of time in my company. At the beginning, of course, his own well-controlled neurosis made its appearance. He is very touchy, excessively worried about his future. Initially I took this to be anxiousness, but later it turned out to be a desire for independence and a horror of needing anything from his father. (It is reminiscent of the prostitution romance.) Otherwise, however, he is nice and gallant and, if he sticks to it, I think I shall knock at your door and ask you to take him on as your neurological assistant and to introduce him to practice. If he does not come along far enough, then not.
I am very much longing for the end of the season. I plan to be in Aussee again June 26 to 29. Gradually we might begin to tackle the question when we can see each other this summer. I need a new impetus from you; after a while it gives out on me. Nuremberg got me going for two months.
Don't repay me in kind this time, and write to me soon about how your little family is doing and any other interesting news about yourself.
Your
Sigm.