FREUD'S OPINION OF WITTELS'

BIOGRAPHY

THE English translation, although substantially from
the printed German original, contains a number of
emendations made by the author at Freud's sugges­
tion. Some of these relate to matters of fact, and
others to matters of opinion. Shortly after the work
was published, Wittels sent Freud a copy of it, and
on December 18, 1923, Freud wrote Wittels a letter
of acknowledgment from which, with Freud's express
authorisation, the following extracts are here trans­
lated :

“You have given me a Christmas present which
is very largely occupied with my own personality.
The failure to send a word of thanks for such a gift
would be an act of rudeness only to be accounted
for by very peculiar motives. Fortunately no such
motives exist in this case. Your book is by no means
hostile; it is not unduly indiscreet; and it manifests
the serious interest in the topic which was to be
anticipated in so able a writer as yourself.

“I need hardly say that I neither expected nor
desired the publication of such a book. It seems to

11

12 SIGMUND FREUD

me that the public has no concern with my personality,
and can learn nothing from an account of it, so long
as my case (for manifold reasons) cannot be expounded
without any reserves whatever. But you have
thought otherwise. Your own detachment from me,
which you deem an advantage, entails serious draw­
backs none the less. You know too little of the
object of study, and you have not been able to avoid
the danger of straining the facts a little in your
analytical endeavours. Moreover, I am inclined to
think that your adoption of Stekel's standpoint,
and the fact that you contemplate the object of study
from his outlook, cannot but have impaired the
accuracy of your discernment.
 

“In some respects, I think there are positive
distortions, and I believe these to be the outcome of
a preconceived notion of yours. You think that a
great man must have such and such merits and
defects, and must display certain extreme charac­
teristics; and you hold that I belong to the category
of great men. That is why you ascribe to me all
sorts of qualities many of which are mutually con­
flicting. Much of general interest might be said
anent this matter, but unfortunately your relationship
to Stekel precludes further attempts on my part
to clear up the misunderstanding.
 

“On the other hand, I am glad to acknowledge
that your shrewdness has enabled you to detect

13 FREUD'S LETTER TO WITTELS

many things which are well known to myself. For
instance, you are right in inferring that I have often
been compelled to make detours when following my
own path. You are right, too, in thinking that I
have no use for other people's ideas when they are
presented to me at an inopportune moment. (Still,
as regards the latter point, I think you might have
defended me from the accusation that I am repudiating
ideas when I am merely unable for the nonce to
pass judgment on them or to elaborate them.) But I
am delighted to find that you do me full justice in
the matter of my relationships with Adler. . . .
 

“I realise that you may have occasion to revise
your text in view of a second edition. With an eye
to this possibility, I enclose a list of suggested emenda­
tions. These are based on trustworthy data, and
are quite independent of my own prepossessions.
Some of them relate to matters of trifling importance,
but some of them will perhaps lead you to reverse
or modify certain inferences. The fact that I send
you these corrections is a token that I value your
work though I cannot wholly approve it.”