Freud, Sigmund

Autograph letter, signed "freud", in German. To the lawyer and criminologist Benjamin Mendelsohn in Bucharest. Berggasse 19, Vienna: 22 January 1937



Folio (11 1/4 x 8 7/8 in.; 285 x 225 mm.), 1 1/2 pages, with autograph envelope, stamped and postmarked; formerly folded, small tears in lateral fold. Tipped onto tissue in a crimson half-morocco drop box.

freud on homosexuality

The letter is addressed to Benjamin Mendelsohn, one of the pioneers of a new trend in criminology which concentrated on the victims, coining the term "victimology." As a young lawyer, Mendelsohn wrote to Freud about the case of a teacher who was a hunchback and was accused of the sexual abuse of two male pupils. In response, Freud states that the defendant's spinal deformity could be a cause of his lack of success with women, though it could not of itself be a cause of homosexuality; that the physical deformity should be taken into account as an influence on the mental condition; that alcoholism has no proven effect on homosexuality; and that a very close relationship with the mother is a frequent characteristic of homosexual men.

The lot includes a letter by Professor Leone Lattes of the Institute of Legal Medicine at Pavia, replying to the same set of questions about the case that Freud is commenting on in the present letter. English translations of both letters are included in the lot.