Freud, Sigmund

confessing that he finds it hard to say whether his letter caused him more joy or more pain, giving voice to his present anxiety, stating that he too finds comfort in the feeling of solidarity with a few others, and in the certainty that the same things have remained dear to them both, envying him because he can defend himself through his fine work, referring to his Magellan, which he is enjoying, hoping that he will not have to wait too long to read his next beautiful and courageous books, stating that his own work lies in the past and that no one can predict how future times will value it, commenting that he himself is not so sure, expressing his belief that only a tiny fragment of the truth has been discovered, noting that the immediate future - for psychoanalysis too - seems bleak, observing that there will be no welcome experiences in the weeks or months that remain to him; in the moving, closing section, Freud describes that his intention was not to give in to lamentation, but to get closer to him [Zweig] personally, not wishing to be celebrated like the rock in the sea against which the waves crash in vain, remarking that, with the aid of a quotation from Horace - impavidem ferient ruinae - if his opposition remains mute, it stills remains opposition

...Meine Arbeit liegt hinter mir, wie Sie es selbst sagen. Niemand kann vorhersagen wie spätere Zeiten sie einschätzen werden. Ich selbst bin nicht so sicher, von der Forschung ist ja der Zweifel unablösbar, und mehr als ein Bruchstückchen der Wahrheit hat man gewiß nicht herausbekommen. Die nächste Zeit sieht trübe aus, auch für meine Psychoanalyse...Ganz gegen meine Absicht bin ich in's Klagen gekommen. Ich meine, ich wollte mich Ihnen menschlich annähern, wollte nicht als der Fels im Meer gefeiert werden, gegen den die Brandung vergeblich anstürmt. Aber wenn mein Trotz auch stumm bleibt, er bleibt doch Trotz und - impavidum ferient ruinae...



2 pages, 4to, on stationery printed "Prof. D^r. Freud Wien, IX., Berggasse 19.", with an autograph envelope [date uncertain], [Vienna,] 17 November 1937, horizontal fold

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A letter of extraordinary poignancy, in which the eighty-one year Freud reflects courageously on the prospects for survival of his life's work in the light of the troubled times. The full quotation from Horace (Odes 3.3.7-8), expressing the dauntlessness of the just man, is as follows: 'Si fractus illabatur orbis, / impavidum ferient ruinae [If the world should break and fall on him, the ruins would strike him fearless]'. In the event, it was Zweig who would succumb to his fears for the fate of civilization, committing suicide in Brazil, with his second wife, in February 1942.