Dr. A. A. Brill
100 West 78th Street 
New York
Telephone 8101 Riverside 
Office hours
9 to 12, 5 to 7

Nov. 18/08

My dear Professor.

First, allow me to express to you my heartiest congratulation 
and please convey the same to your family. I am very pleased 
to hear that you are advancing into the ranks of father‑in‑laws, 
its feminine – mother‑in‑law – has lately taken up quite 
a part of my thoughts. In fact I was trying to solve the 
problem of mother‑in‑laws. Before proceeding I wish to 
say that I do not for a moment include Mrs. Freud in 
the clan mother‑in‑law as it is generally understood, on 
the contrary I am quite certain that just as you have solved 
the sexual problem Mrs. Freud has the mother‑in‑law problem. 
I am one of the fortunate or unfortunate ones who has to taste 
the real mother‑in‑law, i.e. my mother in law treats us, my 
wife and myself, in the usual manner of the classical mother‑
in‑law and as I am not the exception, all my friends 
experience the same thing, I am trying to find the reason 
for the disagreement of mother‑in‑laws with their sons 
or daughters. I had no time to work up the problem but 
as far as I remember the only daughter‑in‑law showing 
any affection for a mother‑in‑law was the Biblical Ruth 
for Naomi. A very ingenious lady whom I happen 
to know and who recently became a mother‑in‑law, wish-
ing to defend my own mother in law, remarked „Well you 
can’t realize how jealous a mother feels of her daughter.“

She then proceeded to explain that a mother does not like to 
lose her daughter etc. That remark and a number of 
instances that I have read about in which there was a 
real sexual rivalry between mother‑in‑law and daughter 
or daughter‑in‑law, lead me to think that it might be 
a sexual rivalry after all. This too is further strengthened 
by a real occurrence among dogs which I witnessed 
a few years ago.  My experience does not really permit me 
to make any definite statements but since I became acquaint-
ed with your principal theories it is quite impossible for 
me to consider anything under any other guise. Your 
Oedipus theory when I first read it appeared to me most 
improbable but as I progressed in knowledge and experience 
I underwent a complete change in that respect. I have 
now a case of Zwangsneurose in whom this Oedipus Complex 
is very nicely shown. It is the case of a young man 25 yrs 
old who „was sick“ since his 14^th yr.  He suffers from 
innumerable obsessive ideas and for the last four 
months I treated him by psychoanalysis. I find that his 
main trouble is due to the fact that ever since his 
maturity he was his mother’s lover. He has made a 
number of sexual attacks on her but he insists that he never 
went through the act because she rebuffed him. She however 
allowed to sleep with her and „touch her“. This continued 
until I began treating him.  His father died 5 years ago and 
my patient tells me that he hated his father and his father 
hated him „because he seemed to be jealous of me“. I 
don’t care to enter more fully into this interesting case 
as I do not wish to take up your valuable time but

I merely mention it as the first case which in my experience 
showed me that which I considered most rare. I am 
now fixing up my translation of your work from the 
Studien & Samigen and now and then I came across a term 
which I find very difficult to translate.  I can not get an 
appropriate English word or expression for ‚Abreagieren‘ and 
its noun. I thought of using „reacting off“ or „off reaction“ 
but it sounds rather clumsy I am now thinking of using the 
term „ventilation“ from the expression ‚to give vent to ones 
feelings‘ but I am not at all pleased with it. Could you 
perhaps suggest any term? I also find some doubts in the 
translation of the sentence pp 11 in The Sexuellen Abirrungen (Drei 
Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie) which reads: ‚Aber viele sind 
abnorm im Sexualleben etc.‘  I translated it as follows: 
„But many are abnormal in their sexual life who in every other 
respect correspond to the average, they have passed through the 
human cultural development which weak point is the sexuality“  
I can't quite understand the last part of the sentence, does it mean 
that they are normal in the whole cultural development but that their 
sexual life is abnormal or does the last phrase deren schwacher 
Punkt die Sexualität bleibt refer to menschliche Kulturentwicklung.

I am quite pleased about the last information that I have 
given you concerning the Parker affair. I was quite 
sure that there might be some difficulties when he told 
me that we must be very careful about the sexual. I saw 
him yesterday and had some talk with him.  He says 
that personally he has absolutely no objection to any 
of our ideas but as his journal is subscribed to by a

great number of women and clergymen he will be unable to 
print anything which would be objected to by his clientele. 
He also says that his journal is used for a number of reading 
circles and that it would be embarrassing to bring in ideas 
phrases or terms which the ladies would become inquisitive 
to understand and might ask the gentleman reader, in most 
cases a clergyman, to explain it. He, for instance, would object 
to such terms as „homosexual“ for fear it would shock the ladies. 
He took that term as an example because he read the analysis 
of my case which I sent to you, in which I used that expression. 
But he is most anxious to have articles from you and he by all 
means wants you to send the article you promised as he believes 
that „by tact and literary skill“ of the translator and himself the 
difficulties could be obviated and the article presented.  I told him 
plainly what you told me in the letter but he begged me to explain 
his position to you. Personally I believe that it would be a 
very good thing for our cause if a few articles explaining your 
ideas could be published. His journal has aroused a great deal 
of acrimonious discussions among some of our prominent neurolog-
ist which is even taken up by the daily press. But a number of 
very good men are writing or have promised to write for the journal. 
I would like to have your article published because I want to 
see Du Bois eclipsed. Some of our men who never had the opportunity 
to read your works but who read a translation of Du Bois imagine 
that there is no better literature on psychotherapy. Parker also asked 
me to write an article, warning me of course about the sexual, and I 
am thinking of writing about psychopathology of Everyday life. I 
have a very fine collection of analyses covering every heading and 
I believe I could give them some idea about individual psychol-
ogy. Parker also claims that he has answered your letter. In his daily 
announcements he uses your name „Some of our contributors are such 
men as Du Bois, Freud etc. I have not given him your photograph 
because I don’t know how things will turn out. I believe however that 
it would be well if the article were published. Both my wife and myself 
are very thankful to you for your kind remembrances and beg you to please convey 
our good wishes to your family. Very sincerely Brill