D r.  A.  A. B r i l l Telephone 8101 Riverside Office hours
100 West 78th Street 9 to 12, 5 to 7
       New York

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 un fortunate 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, wishing 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 [sic??] which I witnessed a few years ago.  My experience does not really permit me to make any definite statements but since I became acquainted 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 14th 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 and [Sam???]igen 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 [sic] 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 neurologist 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 psychology.  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