A Psycho-Analytic Dialogue: The Letters of Sigmund Freud and Karl Abraham 1907-1926

The long-awaited correspondence between Sigmund Freud and Karl Abraham is lying before us now. To read it is a delight—a psychoanalytic learning experience, an exciting story of a friendship in its growth and maturation, a monument to the simplicity, sincerity, and honesty of two men, a nostalgic reminder of the times in Vienna and Berlin between 1907 and 1926. From the almost 500 letters that passed between them, 367 are published here, about equally divided between both men. There was an age difference of 21 years between the two men, but this seemed to be forgotten soon. The loyal son and best student became friends and colleagues of equal standing. This "dialogue"—an excellent chosen title—does not reveal great secrets, and any reader driven by primal-scene curiosity will in all probability be disappointed. The facts are more or less known through Ernest Jones's biography or in the recently published Psychoanalytic Pioneers