Letter from Karl Abraham to Sigmund Freud, February 21, 1924

430A

Berlin-Grünewald1
21 February 1924

Dear Professor,

You hardly need to be assured that your letter made a deep impression on me too. It was, as everything else you write, a document that leaves an impression. I too owe you a debt of gratitude for it. What you say and the way you say it has made me revise once again my statement on the three books by Sándor and Otto.

The objections that Hanns raises in his letter2 accord with yours on the important points, dear Professor. Now Ernest's letter3 has arrived too and contains similar comments. I agree with all these objections; also with those that go beyond your criticism. But I am worried with regard to the implications of certain phenomena in the new books, and my concern has increased in weeks of constantly renewed self-examination. Your letter and the discussion I had yesterday with Hanns have reassured me somewhat on certain points. In advance: there is no question of an inquisition! Results of whatever kind obtained in a legitimate analytic manner would never give me cause for such grave doubts. Here we are faced with something different. I see signs of a disastrous development concerning vital matters of Ψα. They force me, to my deepest sorrow, and not for the first time in the 20 years of my Ψα career, to take on the role of the one who issues a warning. When I add that these facts in question have robbed me of a good deal of my optimism with which