ALS in German, signed “Freud,” one page, 8.75 x 11.5, November 28, 1920. Handwritten letter from Sigmund Freud to American neuropsychiatrist Dr. Gregory Stragnell, thanking his correspondent for a request concerning an article he is unfortunately unable to supply, as he is excessively busy with his work. He also explains that all his articles are now entrusted to the International Journal of Psychoanalysis: “Since I am very busy with my medical work and the work I have already started is intended for our Intern. Magazine.” He goes on to write that he is very pleased to hear that his work is widely followed in America, although he expresses dismay over the growing influence of Carl Jung and his establishment of analytical psychology. “I…hear that the Jungian modification, which I reject, has found many followers there.” In very good to fine condition, with light creasing, and a few short edge tears. Dr. Gregory Stragnell (1888-1963) was a neuropsychiatrist who had a distinguished career as an editor of the Medical Record and as a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association.
By 1920, Sigmund Freud’s disapproval of Carl Jung’s work was rooted in intellectual and personal divisions that had widened over the past decade. Freud had originally seen Jung as his heir in the psychoanalytic movement, but their split (formalized around 1913) stemmed from Jung’s rejection of Freud’s emphasis on sexuality as the core of psychological motivation. Jung’s new 'analytical psychology' introduced ideas such as the collective unconscious, archetypes, and a more spiritual or mythological dimension to the psyche—concepts Freud considered unscientific and dangerous.
By the time of Freud’s 1920 letter, his own work had turned toward Beyond the Pleasure Principle (published that same year), in which he explored the death drive and reinforced his biologically grounded, drive-based model of the mind. Jung’s influence in America—where psychoanalysis was just gaining traction—would have been particularly frustrating for Freud, who viewed Jung’s theories as a distortion of his carefully constructed scientific casework.
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