The Letters of Sigmund Freud and Otto Rank

James Lieberman and Robert Kramer are among the most distinguished authorities on Otto Rank. Instead of producing a critical edition of the Freud-Rank letters, as would have been commonplace, they have used the letters to reconstruct the early 'life' of the psychoanalytic movement. A gem of a book. -- Robert A. Segal, author of Myth: A Very Short Introduction Publication of the Rank-Freud correspondence in this important book fills a major gap in our knowledge and understanding of the early years of psychoanalysis and of Rank himself. Lieberman and Kramer have nicely interleaved the surviving letters with biographical material on Rank, relevant excerpts from Freud's letters to others, and description of the historical context, including World War I and the difficult years that followed. -- David G. Winter, University of Michigan

A rich primary source on psychiatry, history, and culture, The Letters of Sigmund Freud and Otto Rank is a cogent and powerful narrative of early psychoanalysis and its two most important personalities.Sigmund Freud's relationship with Otto Rank was the most constant, close, and significant of his professional life. Freud considered Rank to be the most brilliant of his disciples. The two collaborated on psychoanalytic writing, practice, and politics; Rank was the managing director of Freud's publishing house; and after several years helping Freud update his masterpiece, The Interpretation of Dreams, Rank contributed two chapters. His was the only other name ever to be listed on the title page. This complete collection of the known correspondence between the two brings to life their twenty-year collaboration and their painful break. The 250 letters between Freud and Rank compiled by E. James Lieberman and Robert Kramer humanize and dramatize psychoanalytic thinking, practice, and organization from 1906 through 1925. The letters concern not just the work and trenchant contemporaneous observations of the two but also their friendships, supporters, rivals, families, travels, and other details about their personal and professional lives. Most interestingly, the letters trace Rank's growing independence, the father-son schism over Rank's "anti-Oedipal" heresy, their surprising reconciliation, and the moment when the two parted ways permanently. Presenting a candid picture of how the pioneers of modern psychotherapy behaved with their patients, colleagues, and families, the correspondence between Freud and Rank demonstrates how psychoanalysis grew in relation to early twentieth-century science, art, philosophy, and politics. A rich primary source on psychology, history, and culture, The Letters of Sigmund Freud and Otto Rank is a cogent and powerful narrative of the history of early psychoanalysis and its two most important personalities.