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8 March 1914
Vienna IX, Berggasse 19
95F
Prof. Dr. Freud
Dear Dr. Binswanger,
I am very glad to hear that you are well, and am sure that soon you will feel no more uncertain of life than anyone else.1 That your family is flourishing into the bargain is not only very good news but also redounds without question to the credit of your wife!
It was very pleasing, too, to hear that you have, after all, drawn closer to Shakespeare.2 It often puzzles me why humanity needs so many new writers. I am very much looking forward to hearing your views on Rome next year. It is generally accepted that the first impression is disappointing, not to say harrowing.
So far this year has brought me a great deal of work which has only now begun to slacken. It is a pity that your theoretical work is not making any progress. We really could have done with it for the first volume of the new Jahrbuch.3 In the event, that contains two contributions from me, an essay entitled ‘On Narcissism: an Introduction’4 and another ‘On the History of the Psychoanalytic Movement’,5 which I hope will clarify the relations with Jung. You are unlikely to have missed Jelgersma's6 rectorial address in Leiden.
Everyone in my family is well. My wife left yesterday for Hamburg, where we are expecting a rise in status in the near future, in other words elevation to the rank of grandparents.7
I am very pleased about Häberlin's appointment.8 If you should see him, please convey my congratulations. I have little hope, however, that he will turn out to be an active champion of psychoanalysis.
Recently one of Friedländer's colleagues again confirmed that he was demoted for cheating at tarok while he was a voluntary cadet medical officer. Perhaps you will now appreciate my reluctance to have any kind of contact with the wretch.