Paris: Freud and Adler

This article invites readers to the Paris of Sigmund Freud and the Paris of Alfred Adler. A Russian psychoanalyst (Leibin) and an American Individual Psychologist (Bluvshtein) join to share their observations of the city that once inspired the love letters of 29-year-old Dr. Freud to his fiancé Martha Bernays, and 50 years later comforted Raissa Adler, the widow of Dr. Adler, when she received news of his untimely death. The authors discuss Parisian life as reflected in Freud and Adler’s correspondence, the correspondence of those who knew them, and in remembrances of their colleagues and followers. Written as a set of two traveler’s journals, the article offers glimpses into French pages in the development of Freudian psychoanalysis and Freud’s personality; and it sheds light on French pages in the development of the theory and practice of Adler’s Individual Psychology and on some events in Adler’s life.