Letter from Sigmund Freud to Karl Abraham, August 1, 1915

280F

Karlsbad, Rudolfshof
1 August 1915

Dear Friend,

I was delighted to hear from you at all, though not all your news is pleasing, but as variegated as life itself is now. Fortunately none of it was definitely bad, however. The psychoanalyst may be surprised, but must adapt.

We arrived here a fortnight ago and found that this bubble-town still keeps its old magic: the food is good, and the place is much quieter than it used to be. Officers with Iron Crosses instead of the ladies1 in crazy dresses. Apart from a disturbance caused by my wife's having some tooth trouble, we can say that we are very well. We are actually thinking of staying on for an extra week. In the middle of August we want to be in Ischl for grandmother's 80th birthday (incidentally, 81/2 was not a slip of the pen, but my usual way of writing 81-82, taken over from the dream notes, e.g. “dream of 8/9 August”). Our daughter is already in Ischl.

Ernst should have left for Galicia yesterday. Martin has been through some severe fighting, a bullet grazed his right arm and another went through his cap, both without disturbing his capacity for action. He has been praised for bravery. In his last postcard he mentions the possibility of a fortnight's leave. He has been out there since 20 January.

I have completed my 12 papers here. (“War-time atrocities”, like a great many other things.) Several, like for example that on consciousness, still require thorough revision. Censorship seems now to have made the sending of manuscripts much more difficult. What else will still have to fall before the book can go to print, one cannot say.

Correspondence is silent. Lou Andreas has promised a paper on “Anal and Sexual”.2 The editorial board of bristles with arms. My house in Vienna is open, and is thus the best address for correspondence.

I hope this letter will be forwarded to you in Mecklenburg.

With cordial greetings