Letter from Ludwig Binswanger to Freud, August 10, 1917

Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, 10 August 1917

113B

Dear Professor Freud,

I have been telling you for years about the work I am writing on psychoanalysis,1 and I even read you some of it when you stayed here. Lest you should imagine that that was all there was to it, I propose sending you a chapter of the manuscript very shortly. The work is divided into two parts: the first, of 200 typewritten pages, is almost completed and deals with general psychological problems such as the definition of the psyche, the basic concepts of psychology, the various scientific methods of dealing with psychic phenomena, etc., all based on historical examples. This is followed, as the second part, by an appreciation and examination of psychoanalysis, that is, of the latter's purely psychological aspect. You will be receiving the first chapter [of the second part].2 You can imagine how particularly delighted I am that you are interested in the book, and if the material appeals to you, and you should wish to add some personal comments, I shall of course be most grateful to you; that is not, however, the main reason for my sending it to you. I assume that the second part will also run to at least 200 typewritten pages and I would prefer to publish the whole as a self-contained book. I am sending you a copy of the typescript so that there is no rush about sending it back; because of censorship it will in any case take a long time to and fro.

I should be very glad to have a brief note letting me know when you are hoping to publish Part III of the Lectures on Psychoanalysis.

With kind regards,

Ever yours, [L. Binswanger]