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Constance, 6 November 1912
80B
Dear Professor Freud,
Many thanks for your information. I am glad that you have made a tabula rasa and am surprised at only one thing, that you - forgive me - have taken so long to see through your Viennese pupils. Something must have held you back from acknowledging your innermost convictions to yourself or to others, for I remember very well that you said after a meeting, on my very first visit to Vienna: Did you ever see such a gang?1 Perhaps it was said half tongue-in-cheek, but at the time it took me aback and caused me great concern, for I realised even then that there was a gulf between you and them and that you must be affected deeply by it. That is why I have always been so amazed at the tenacity with which you stuck to them, until they went too far.
I have already written to Stekel. I shall of course support your journal as much as I am able. But I hope, because of the way we now stand towards each other, that I am entitled to express a wish which is close to my heart, or, should you think that too presumptuous, at least to ask a question: wouldn't it be possible for you to be both editor and publisher at the same time, or do you absolutely have to have a separate editor? From everything I have heard from you about Ferenczi I am sure that he means a great deal to you both as a person and as a pupil, and I am sure, too, he deserves it. But however much I value some of his scientific contributions, in my view he still lacks the kind of scientific and critical perspective that I - perhaps unjustifiably - expect from someone who takes on the editorship of a journal published by you. Now that I am devoting myself so intensely to your kind of research, I have come to realise that I can follow you in almost every respect, whereas Ferenczi's contributions seem to me, now and then, to be lacking in the high seriousness that distinguishes your entire work in its every detail. I venture to say that not only Ferenczi, but no one else of our