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Sigmund Freud and Christfried Tögel (ed.)
Unser Herz zeigt nach dem Süden: Reisebriefe 1895-1923
(Our Hearts Point South: Travel Letters 1895-1923)
Aufbau-Verlag, March 2002. 422 pp. There are still secrets about Freud, some of which are uncovered in this collection of his travel writings, his postcards and his letters, compiled and edited by Christfried Tögel, a true Freud expert. Freud's wish, we hear, was to sleep in a different bed every night, and travelling, next to smoking, the collection of antiques, and psychoanalysis ranked among his 'addictions'. His numerous letters and cards, to his wife Martha and his children, friends and colleagues, are marked by a breathlessness, an excitement and a staccato tempo reflecting the intensity and abundance of impressions, sights and pleasures which Tuscany and Sicily provided. Freud's annual trips, the highlights of his year, often took him to the Alps where he would spend several weeks with his family, but would then take off to explore Italy accompanied by his brother Alexander or sister-in-law Minna Bernays. Between 1895 and 1923, when his cancer no longer allowed him to travel, he visited Rome seven times; but the secret highlights of his travelling were trips to North America and London. This book offers the reader no new insights into psychoanalysis, although Tögel has uncovered a previously unknown treatise: Comments on Faces and Men, written by Freud in the National Portrait Gallery. These are notes on human greatness and the ways in which it can be related to looks. But Tögel's true goal is to show a more human side of the father of psychoanalysis. If you ever felt intimidated by Freud and his writing, this is the time to start reading.
Walter Benjamin unforgettably described the enjoyment and luck of wandering around and getting lost in a strange city, and he blazed a trail which many travellers, literary, philosophical and otherwise, followed. Now you have a second choice of travelling companion from the past. And maybe you will end up reaching the same conclusion as Freud did in the end: 'East, West - home's best'. Up to you to analyse this!
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