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Freud’s letters. Similarly, Freud referred to Pentecost twice in the correspondence; Jung did so but once, and that in response to Freud.56
For readers who may have been dubious earlier about the emphasis placed on the sound similarity of the names of Freud’s mother and nurse and other important women’s names—Amalia, Amme, Anna, Nana, Madonna, Dame—here is a quote exemplifying Freud’s own understanding of such associations and meanings. In a letter to Jung, he wrote about one of his cases: Just now I had a consultation with one of my patients who has made my head spin so that I can think of nothing else. Her main symptom is that she can’t hold a cup of tea if anyone is present…. She worked very poorly this morning. “No sooner was I back in the entry hall,” she says now, “than I saw it all. Obviously it’s innate cowardice! After all lâcheté and Schale Thee aren’t so far apart.” [lâcheté —“cowardice” in French; Schale Thee— “cup of tea” in German. Obviously a sophisticated patient!] She has a habit of inverting words. She spent her childhood between her mother and her nurse, who stayed with her for many years. The mother’s name is Emma; turn it around: Amme. The devil take our harebrained critics!57 Besides the rather strained search for sound similarities with respect to lâcheté, we see here Emma and Amme, a nurse, a mother, and even the Devil making their appearance. It is relevant also to note that the names for Freud’s famous female cases also seemed to come from the same acoustic world: Anna, Irma (Emma), Nora. The Freud-Abraham CorrespondenceOne of Freud’s most loyal and helpful colleagues was Karl Abraham; the correspondence between them (1907-1926) has been published, and these letters give us still another glimpse of Freud and his psychology.58 What is intriguing is to find, once again, an Easter-Pentecost theme in these letters, even though Freud was writing to a secular Jewish intellectual who had no apparent connection of any kind with Christianity. Early in the correspondence, for instance, Freud wrote, “On this rainy Whitsunday…”59; In a later letter, he mentioned that he had been “unable to work since Easter.”60 Still later, he expressed the desire to see his daughter and grandson at Easter.61 These references imply, in each case, some sadness, or some emotional block, or the yearning to see family members. The most striking example is Freud’s comment on a visit with Abraham and his family that had fallen through: “I cannot get over the disappointment of Easter. It would have been so delightful to see you all together for once.”62 On yet three other occasions Freud referred |