However, an
important
part of the manuscript had to be left
with my wife.
with my wife.
Weininger - 1946 - Mind and Death of a Genius
The mind and death of a genius, by David Abrahamsen .
.
.
Abrahamsen, David, 1903-
New York, Columbia University Press, 1946.
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857
Public Domain, Google-digitized
http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
This work is in the Public Domain, meaning that it is not subject to copyright. Users are free to copy, use, and redistribute the work in part or in whole. It is possible that heirs or the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as illustrations, assert copyrights over these portions. Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address. The digital images and OCR of this work were produced by Google, Inc. (indicated by a watermark on each page in the PageTurner). Google requests that the images and OCR not be re-hosted, redistributed or used commercially.
The images are provided for educational, scholarly, non-commercial purposes.
? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? The Mind and Death of a genius
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? OTTO WEININGER
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Hie Mind and Death
of a genius
y
by DAVID ABRAHAMSEN, m. d.
1*
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
19 4 6
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS, NEW YORK
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? By the Same Author
CRIME AND THE HUMAN MIND
MEN, MIND, AND POWER
Copyr1ght, 1946, Columb1a Un1vers1ty Press
London: Geoffrey cumberlege, Oxford Un1vers1ty Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 33 602419
0
-a
f
7
To NOLAN D. C. LEWIS,
Psychiatrist and Friend
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Preface
Ihis book is an interpretation of the mind and death of
Otto Weininger. To make such an interpretation of per-
sonality, I naturally had recourse to the tools of psychology
and psychoanalytic psychiatry, analyzed carefully his volumin-
ous work, Sex and Character, and sought out sources of infor-
mation about him. Since the greater part of Weininger's life
was veiled in darkness, it was necessary for me to get in touch
with his family, his friends, and his contemporaries who had
firsthand knowledge. I also was obliged to search through
Weininger's own works, his correspondence, and the literature
concerning him. A number of letters and postcards pertaining
to his life are here made public for the first time.
This work was undertaken some ten years ago in Norway and
was continued by studies in Copenhagen and in the British
Museum in London. About two years after the start I began to
integrate the material, and some two years thereafter the book
was nearing the stage of completion.
Then came the German invasion. I joined the Norwegian
Army, but the manuscript was left behind in Oslo. After a few
months of fighting, I succeeded in escaping from Norway,
carrying part of the manuscript with me until I finally landed
in this country of freedom.
However, an important part of the manuscript had to be left
with my wife. Several months passed before she and our two
daughters managed to get out of Norway and finally, via
Russia and Japan, arrived in Chicago. In 1941 we were rejoined,
as were the two parts of the manuscript after having circum-
navigated the globe.
Since that time new data has been collected, more research
and deeper studies have been conducted which have brought
about extensive revisions of the manuscript.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Preface
I wish to express my gratitude to those who have assisted me
in my work: to Mrs. Rosa Boschan Weininger of Budapest,
for the invaluable information she has given about her brother
and for permission to use the material not previously published;
to the late Sigmund Freud, for his invaluable assistance; to
Wilhelm Treichlinger, of Vienna, who helped to trace the
many sources; to Emil Lucka; to Hans Ewald, of Vienna; Greg-
ory Zilboorg, of New York; Karl A. Mcnninger, of the Men-
ninger Clinic, Topeka, Kansas; and Paul Federn, of New York.
John Hambro of Oslo was helpful in some of the previous
translation, as was Commissioner of Police, Kristian Welhaven,
Oslo, Norway, in acquiring information and material.
Finally, I thank my wife for her always invaluable and
stimulating support.
DAVID ABRAHAMSEN
Columbia University
May 2, 1946
>
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Contents
INTRODUCTION
SHADOWS OF THE PAST
. TOWARDS THE FUTURE
THE CITY BY THE RIVER
. STUDENT AND GENIUS
THE EMPTY SCENE
. THE EDGE OF FEAR
' SEX AND CHARACTER
'7. CROSSING THE BORDER
f. GENIUS AND INSANITY
ABBREVIATIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE
APPENDIX
INDEX
3
6
M
26
38
59
76
104
196
197
201
217
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? I
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Illustrations
OTTO WEININGER
LEOPOLD WEININGER
ADELHEID WEININGER
Frontispiece
opposite 6
opposite 18
FACSIMILE OF THE POEM "SCHAUDER"
IN WEININGER'S HANDWRITING 23
LETTER WRITTEN BY FREUD,
MARCH 14, 1938 41
FACSIMILE OF LAST PAGE OF "VERDAMNIS,"
SHOWING WEININGER'S SIGNATURE 67
OTTO WEININGER IN THE SPRING
OF 1903 opposite 162
LETTER WRITTEN BY FREUD,
JUNE 11, 1939
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle.
However, an important part of the manuscript had to be left
with my wife. Several months passed before she and our two
daughters managed to get out of Norway and finally, via
Russia and Japan, arrived in Chicago. In 1941 we were rejoined,
as were the two parts of the manuscript after having circum-
navigated the globe.
Since that time new data has been collected, more research
and deeper studies have been conducted which have brought
about extensive revisions of the manuscript.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Preface
I wish to express my gratitude to those who have assisted me
in my work: to Mrs. Rosa Boschan Weininger of Budapest,
for the invaluable information she has given about her brother
and for permission to use the material not previously published;
to the late Sigmund Freud, for his invaluable assistance; to
Wilhelm Treichlinger, of Vienna, who helped to trace the
many sources; to Emil Lucka; to Hans Ewald, of Vienna; Greg-
ory Zilboorg, of New York; Karl A. Mcnninger, of the Men-
ninger Clinic, Topeka, Kansas; and Paul Federn, of New York.
John Hambro of Oslo was helpful in some of the previous
translation, as was Commissioner of Police, Kristian Welhaven,
Oslo, Norway, in acquiring information and material.
Finally, I thank my wife for her always invaluable and
stimulating support.
DAVID ABRAHAMSEN
Columbia University
May 2, 1946
>
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Contents
INTRODUCTION
SHADOWS OF THE PAST
. TOWARDS THE FUTURE
THE CITY BY THE RIVER
. STUDENT AND GENIUS
THE EMPTY SCENE
. THE EDGE OF FEAR
' SEX AND CHARACTER
'7. CROSSING THE BORDER
f. GENIUS AND INSANITY
ABBREVIATIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE
APPENDIX
INDEX
3
6
M
26
38
59
76
104
196
197
201
217
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? I
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Illustrations
OTTO WEININGER
LEOPOLD WEININGER
ADELHEID WEININGER
Frontispiece
opposite 6
opposite 18
FACSIMILE OF THE POEM "SCHAUDER"
IN WEININGER'S HANDWRITING 23
LETTER WRITTEN BY FREUD,
MARCH 14, 1938 41
FACSIMILE OF LAST PAGE OF "VERDAMNIS,"
SHOWING WEININGER'S SIGNATURE 67
OTTO WEININGER IN THE SPRING
OF 1903 opposite 162
LETTER WRITTEN BY FREUD,
JUNE 11, 1939
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? I
i
I
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? The Mind and Death of a genius
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? )
;
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Introduction
T
I he intellectual endeavor of Otto Weininger in its
JL brief span of days brought fame to a young man and
controversy to the scientific minds of two continents. He be-
came famous because he was at the age of twenty-three able
to produce a prodigious philosophical work, profound in con-
ception and rich in precept. He bred controversy because his
doctrines were radical.
The man came as a meteor and disappeared as suddenly. It
was only when he had passed that his ideas started to sparkle,
electrifying the world. Some regarded him as a biologist, others
as a psychologist, still others called him a mystic. Though gen-
erally considered a realist, he was at the same time strongly
suspected of dealing in fantasies. He was praised for his in-
vincible logic and attacked for his crusade against women.
He was full of contradictions. His name became the signal for
dispute and controversy in a thousand cities.
In the muggy and overladen atmosphere of Vienna, Otto
Weininger's ideas frequently were a subject for discussion
among his comrades. In the Vienna of theaters and cafes, of
research institutions and universities, Otto Weininger's work
was born. His outward life was a piece of Viennese life, part
of the life that gave the city its color.
It was in Vienna in the year 1903 that the first work of
Otto Weininger, doctor philosophiae, was published. Its title
was Sex and Character (Geschlecht und Character). 1 Wei-
ninger was severely attacked for Sex and Character. Yet most
of those who berated him made little or no effort to penetrate
into the personality behind the book. The work won little
recognition and perhaps would have been overlooked had not
a certain event taken place. On an autumn evening in 1903,
'This, the only one of Weininger's works to be translated into English, is
called throughout by its English title. The page citations are, however, to pages
in the German original.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 4 Introduction
Weininger shot himself to death in the house where, seventy-
six years earlier, Beethoven had died. This was the sensational
incident which made people curious about him.
In the succeeding years interest in Otto Weininger's work
spread. By 1925 Sex and Character had been published in
twenty-six printings. Shortly after his death his friend Rappa-
port brought out (in 1907) Vber die letzten Dinge (Con-
cerning the Last Things), a collection of essays, discourses,
and remarks about sadism, masochism, the psychology of mur-
der, criminal psychology, and animal psychology. Many years
later (in 1919) his third and final book, Taschenbuch und
Briefe an einem Freund (Notebook and Letters to a Friend),
was published in Vienna through the agency of another friend,
Arthur Gerber. 2
In the years following the publication of Sex and Character,
views of Weininger and his book were sharply divided. Note-
worthy were the opinions of George Wirth, who called the
book "an unparalleled crime against humanity," 3 and that of
August Strindberg, who enthusiastically wrote, "Here is the
man who has solved the most difficult of all problems. " The
main reason for this clash of opinion lies in the violent and
complex nature of Otto Weininger himself as it is reflected in
his books. Did he have an abnormal mind that produced nor-
mal thoughts or a normal mind that conceived abnormal ideas?
That question, the puzzle of Otto Weininger's personality, is
the subject of the present book.
His twisted personality created a contradictory work re-
flecting his inner struggle. In the first period of his life he
seemed to be quite comfortable within the scope of empirical
science, but later profound doubt of the truth of this method
2 Gerber had had the Taschenbuch and several letters for a long time before
1919, when he gave the manuscript to Oskar Ewald (whose real name was
Oskar Friedlander), another of Otto's friends. The partly illegible stenographic
notations, notes, and letters in this collection were deciphered with great diffi-
culty. Throughout the text references are made to Vber die letzten Dinge as
U. L. D. ; references are made to the later work simply as Taschenbuch.
1 G. Wirth, Ways to Love, p. 219, as quoted in Ivan Bloch, The Sexual Life
of Our Time (London, 1940), p. 17.
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? Introduction
5
continually harassed him and he finally became a skeptic
throughout, involved in his own world. His intellectual de-
velopment was too rapid and went at a pace too fast for his
argumentative abilities, and there did not remain room enough
for his creative, collective strength. He quickly worked out a
solution for his problems, but because of his nature and his
youth, he lacked confidence, and he was forced to look back-
ward even when marching forward.
Weininger's nature forced his mind on long expeditions
into psychology, biology, literature, and philosophy, journeys
from which he never returned. Dissatisfied with scientific re-
search, discontent with his own restless nature, he went
farther and farther along the paths of speculative thought un-
til he was, at the end, quite alone.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Shadows of
the Past
It would be hard to find another man who showed even in
mild form the characteristics and the mental processes that
Otto Weininger revealed in the extreme. His personality was
manifold, twisted, fantastic. To understand him and interpret
his mental gyrations is a most difficult task. His outward life
could not reflect the versatility, the sharp lights and the deep
shadows, of his mental life.
In order to understand the structure of Otto Weininger's
personality, it is necessary first to trace the inclinations that
were instruments in shaping his attitudes and reactions, both
sane and morbid, and to study his background. First, there is
the history of his immediate family.
Otto Weininger's father was born January 31, 1854, in
Vienna. His father, Solomon Weininger, was a merchant from
Wradisch, in the county of Neutra, Hungary; his mother, whose
maiden name was Karolina Blau, was born in Nikolsburg,
Southern Moravia. Both of them were Jewish (Letter XIV). 1
Leopold was the eldest--and apparently the only talented one
--of their five or six children (Letters X, XVI). His younger
brother, Friedrich, is said to have been "handsome, charming,
frivolous"; after suddenly deserting his wife and home because
of another woman, he lived through the rest of his life with-
out concerning himself again about his wife or their two chil-
dren (Letter XV). For this Leopold Weininger never for-
gave him; when Friedrich, on his deathbed, asked his brother
to come to see him, Leopold refused--thus showing the rigid
moral attitude typical of him.
1 These letters are to be found in the Appendix. I have assigned numbers to
them for easier reference. Much of the material on the family has been drawn
from an eighteen-page manuscript report of the Reichskriminal-polizeiamt of
Vienna, which I received in 1939.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? LEOPOLD WEININGER
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Shadows of the Past 7
Otto Weininger's maternal grandfather was Josef Frey--a
dealer in scrap iron. He was born at Kaladey, Bohemia, in 1829
and was married to Elonore Magdalene Griinwald, who was
born at Szenitz, Hungary, in 1837 and died in 1874. Josef
Frey carried on his trade in secondhand goods until 1879.
After that time he appeared on the official records as unem-
ployed. He died in 1901 of arteriosclerosis. He was the father
of three children, of whom the oldest, Adelheid (Adele), was
Otto's mother. She was born in Vienna on April 10,1857. '^ne
one fact we know of her early life is the death of her mother
when still quite young. Her family were orderly Jewish peo-
ple, although her brother Armand was reported to be not too
honest. The police reported that he was living in the ill-famed
Massenquartier II, Navarnegasse No. 45, "a favorite residence
of vagrants and tramps. " "He certainly," as the report said,
"did not have a clean record. "
Otto's father did not have a formal education.
Abrahamsen, David, 1903-
New York, Columbia University Press, 1946.
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857
Public Domain, Google-digitized
http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
This work is in the Public Domain, meaning that it is not subject to copyright. Users are free to copy, use, and redistribute the work in part or in whole. It is possible that heirs or the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as illustrations, assert copyrights over these portions. Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address. The digital images and OCR of this work were produced by Google, Inc. (indicated by a watermark on each page in the PageTurner). Google requests that the images and OCR not be re-hosted, redistributed or used commercially.
The images are provided for educational, scholarly, non-commercial purposes.
? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? The Mind and Death of a genius
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? OTTO WEININGER
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Hie Mind and Death
of a genius
y
by DAVID ABRAHAMSEN, m. d.
1*
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
19 4 6
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS, NEW YORK
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? By the Same Author
CRIME AND THE HUMAN MIND
MEN, MIND, AND POWER
Copyr1ght, 1946, Columb1a Un1vers1ty Press
London: Geoffrey cumberlege, Oxford Un1vers1ty Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 33 602419
0
-a
f
7
To NOLAN D. C. LEWIS,
Psychiatrist and Friend
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Preface
Ihis book is an interpretation of the mind and death of
Otto Weininger. To make such an interpretation of per-
sonality, I naturally had recourse to the tools of psychology
and psychoanalytic psychiatry, analyzed carefully his volumin-
ous work, Sex and Character, and sought out sources of infor-
mation about him. Since the greater part of Weininger's life
was veiled in darkness, it was necessary for me to get in touch
with his family, his friends, and his contemporaries who had
firsthand knowledge. I also was obliged to search through
Weininger's own works, his correspondence, and the literature
concerning him. A number of letters and postcards pertaining
to his life are here made public for the first time.
This work was undertaken some ten years ago in Norway and
was continued by studies in Copenhagen and in the British
Museum in London. About two years after the start I began to
integrate the material, and some two years thereafter the book
was nearing the stage of completion.
Then came the German invasion. I joined the Norwegian
Army, but the manuscript was left behind in Oslo. After a few
months of fighting, I succeeded in escaping from Norway,
carrying part of the manuscript with me until I finally landed
in this country of freedom.
However, an important part of the manuscript had to be left
with my wife. Several months passed before she and our two
daughters managed to get out of Norway and finally, via
Russia and Japan, arrived in Chicago. In 1941 we were rejoined,
as were the two parts of the manuscript after having circum-
navigated the globe.
Since that time new data has been collected, more research
and deeper studies have been conducted which have brought
about extensive revisions of the manuscript.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Preface
I wish to express my gratitude to those who have assisted me
in my work: to Mrs. Rosa Boschan Weininger of Budapest,
for the invaluable information she has given about her brother
and for permission to use the material not previously published;
to the late Sigmund Freud, for his invaluable assistance; to
Wilhelm Treichlinger, of Vienna, who helped to trace the
many sources; to Emil Lucka; to Hans Ewald, of Vienna; Greg-
ory Zilboorg, of New York; Karl A. Mcnninger, of the Men-
ninger Clinic, Topeka, Kansas; and Paul Federn, of New York.
John Hambro of Oslo was helpful in some of the previous
translation, as was Commissioner of Police, Kristian Welhaven,
Oslo, Norway, in acquiring information and material.
Finally, I thank my wife for her always invaluable and
stimulating support.
DAVID ABRAHAMSEN
Columbia University
May 2, 1946
>
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? Contents
INTRODUCTION
SHADOWS OF THE PAST
. TOWARDS THE FUTURE
THE CITY BY THE RIVER
. STUDENT AND GENIUS
THE EMPTY SCENE
. THE EDGE OF FEAR
' SEX AND CHARACTER
'7. CROSSING THE BORDER
f. GENIUS AND INSANITY
ABBREVIATIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE
APPENDIX
INDEX
3
6
M
26
38
59
76
104
196
197
201
217
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? I
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? Illustrations
OTTO WEININGER
LEOPOLD WEININGER
ADELHEID WEININGER
Frontispiece
opposite 6
opposite 18
FACSIMILE OF THE POEM "SCHAUDER"
IN WEININGER'S HANDWRITING 23
LETTER WRITTEN BY FREUD,
MARCH 14, 1938 41
FACSIMILE OF LAST PAGE OF "VERDAMNIS,"
SHOWING WEININGER'S SIGNATURE 67
OTTO WEININGER IN THE SPRING
OF 1903 opposite 162
LETTER WRITTEN BY FREUD,
JUNE 11, 1939
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle.
However, an important part of the manuscript had to be left
with my wife. Several months passed before she and our two
daughters managed to get out of Norway and finally, via
Russia and Japan, arrived in Chicago. In 1941 we were rejoined,
as were the two parts of the manuscript after having circum-
navigated the globe.
Since that time new data has been collected, more research
and deeper studies have been conducted which have brought
about extensive revisions of the manuscript.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Preface
I wish to express my gratitude to those who have assisted me
in my work: to Mrs. Rosa Boschan Weininger of Budapest,
for the invaluable information she has given about her brother
and for permission to use the material not previously published;
to the late Sigmund Freud, for his invaluable assistance; to
Wilhelm Treichlinger, of Vienna, who helped to trace the
many sources; to Emil Lucka; to Hans Ewald, of Vienna; Greg-
ory Zilboorg, of New York; Karl A. Mcnninger, of the Men-
ninger Clinic, Topeka, Kansas; and Paul Federn, of New York.
John Hambro of Oslo was helpful in some of the previous
translation, as was Commissioner of Police, Kristian Welhaven,
Oslo, Norway, in acquiring information and material.
Finally, I thank my wife for her always invaluable and
stimulating support.
DAVID ABRAHAMSEN
Columbia University
May 2, 1946
>
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Contents
INTRODUCTION
SHADOWS OF THE PAST
. TOWARDS THE FUTURE
THE CITY BY THE RIVER
. STUDENT AND GENIUS
THE EMPTY SCENE
. THE EDGE OF FEAR
' SEX AND CHARACTER
'7. CROSSING THE BORDER
f. GENIUS AND INSANITY
ABBREVIATIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE
APPENDIX
INDEX
3
6
M
26
38
59
76
104
196
197
201
217
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? I
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 08:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89038364857 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Illustrations
OTTO WEININGER
LEOPOLD WEININGER
ADELHEID WEININGER
Frontispiece
opposite 6
opposite 18
FACSIMILE OF THE POEM "SCHAUDER"
IN WEININGER'S HANDWRITING 23
LETTER WRITTEN BY FREUD,
MARCH 14, 1938 41
FACSIMILE OF LAST PAGE OF "VERDAMNIS,"
SHOWING WEININGER'S SIGNATURE 67
OTTO WEININGER IN THE SPRING
OF 1903 opposite 162
LETTER WRITTEN BY FREUD,
JUNE 11, 1939
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? I
i
I
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? The Mind and Death of a genius
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? )
;
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? Introduction
T
I he intellectual endeavor of Otto Weininger in its
JL brief span of days brought fame to a young man and
controversy to the scientific minds of two continents. He be-
came famous because he was at the age of twenty-three able
to produce a prodigious philosophical work, profound in con-
ception and rich in precept. He bred controversy because his
doctrines were radical.
The man came as a meteor and disappeared as suddenly. It
was only when he had passed that his ideas started to sparkle,
electrifying the world. Some regarded him as a biologist, others
as a psychologist, still others called him a mystic. Though gen-
erally considered a realist, he was at the same time strongly
suspected of dealing in fantasies. He was praised for his in-
vincible logic and attacked for his crusade against women.
He was full of contradictions. His name became the signal for
dispute and controversy in a thousand cities.
In the muggy and overladen atmosphere of Vienna, Otto
Weininger's ideas frequently were a subject for discussion
among his comrades. In the Vienna of theaters and cafes, of
research institutions and universities, Otto Weininger's work
was born. His outward life was a piece of Viennese life, part
of the life that gave the city its color.
It was in Vienna in the year 1903 that the first work of
Otto Weininger, doctor philosophiae, was published. Its title
was Sex and Character (Geschlecht und Character). 1 Wei-
ninger was severely attacked for Sex and Character. Yet most
of those who berated him made little or no effort to penetrate
into the personality behind the book. The work won little
recognition and perhaps would have been overlooked had not
a certain event taken place. On an autumn evening in 1903,
'This, the only one of Weininger's works to be translated into English, is
called throughout by its English title. The page citations are, however, to pages
in the German original.
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? 4 Introduction
Weininger shot himself to death in the house where, seventy-
six years earlier, Beethoven had died. This was the sensational
incident which made people curious about him.
In the succeeding years interest in Otto Weininger's work
spread. By 1925 Sex and Character had been published in
twenty-six printings. Shortly after his death his friend Rappa-
port brought out (in 1907) Vber die letzten Dinge (Con-
cerning the Last Things), a collection of essays, discourses,
and remarks about sadism, masochism, the psychology of mur-
der, criminal psychology, and animal psychology. Many years
later (in 1919) his third and final book, Taschenbuch und
Briefe an einem Freund (Notebook and Letters to a Friend),
was published in Vienna through the agency of another friend,
Arthur Gerber. 2
In the years following the publication of Sex and Character,
views of Weininger and his book were sharply divided. Note-
worthy were the opinions of George Wirth, who called the
book "an unparalleled crime against humanity," 3 and that of
August Strindberg, who enthusiastically wrote, "Here is the
man who has solved the most difficult of all problems. " The
main reason for this clash of opinion lies in the violent and
complex nature of Otto Weininger himself as it is reflected in
his books. Did he have an abnormal mind that produced nor-
mal thoughts or a normal mind that conceived abnormal ideas?
That question, the puzzle of Otto Weininger's personality, is
the subject of the present book.
His twisted personality created a contradictory work re-
flecting his inner struggle. In the first period of his life he
seemed to be quite comfortable within the scope of empirical
science, but later profound doubt of the truth of this method
2 Gerber had had the Taschenbuch and several letters for a long time before
1919, when he gave the manuscript to Oskar Ewald (whose real name was
Oskar Friedlander), another of Otto's friends. The partly illegible stenographic
notations, notes, and letters in this collection were deciphered with great diffi-
culty. Throughout the text references are made to Vber die letzten Dinge as
U. L. D. ; references are made to the later work simply as Taschenbuch.
1 G. Wirth, Ways to Love, p. 219, as quoted in Ivan Bloch, The Sexual Life
of Our Time (London, 1940), p. 17.
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? Introduction
5
continually harassed him and he finally became a skeptic
throughout, involved in his own world. His intellectual de-
velopment was too rapid and went at a pace too fast for his
argumentative abilities, and there did not remain room enough
for his creative, collective strength. He quickly worked out a
solution for his problems, but because of his nature and his
youth, he lacked confidence, and he was forced to look back-
ward even when marching forward.
Weininger's nature forced his mind on long expeditions
into psychology, biology, literature, and philosophy, journeys
from which he never returned. Dissatisfied with scientific re-
search, discontent with his own restless nature, he went
farther and farther along the paths of speculative thought un-
til he was, at the end, quite alone.
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? Shadows of
the Past
It would be hard to find another man who showed even in
mild form the characteristics and the mental processes that
Otto Weininger revealed in the extreme. His personality was
manifold, twisted, fantastic. To understand him and interpret
his mental gyrations is a most difficult task. His outward life
could not reflect the versatility, the sharp lights and the deep
shadows, of his mental life.
In order to understand the structure of Otto Weininger's
personality, it is necessary first to trace the inclinations that
were instruments in shaping his attitudes and reactions, both
sane and morbid, and to study his background. First, there is
the history of his immediate family.
Otto Weininger's father was born January 31, 1854, in
Vienna. His father, Solomon Weininger, was a merchant from
Wradisch, in the county of Neutra, Hungary; his mother, whose
maiden name was Karolina Blau, was born in Nikolsburg,
Southern Moravia. Both of them were Jewish (Letter XIV). 1
Leopold was the eldest--and apparently the only talented one
--of their five or six children (Letters X, XVI). His younger
brother, Friedrich, is said to have been "handsome, charming,
frivolous"; after suddenly deserting his wife and home because
of another woman, he lived through the rest of his life with-
out concerning himself again about his wife or their two chil-
dren (Letter XV). For this Leopold Weininger never for-
gave him; when Friedrich, on his deathbed, asked his brother
to come to see him, Leopold refused--thus showing the rigid
moral attitude typical of him.
1 These letters are to be found in the Appendix. I have assigned numbers to
them for easier reference. Much of the material on the family has been drawn
from an eighteen-page manuscript report of the Reichskriminal-polizeiamt of
Vienna, which I received in 1939.
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? LEOPOLD WEININGER
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? Shadows of the Past 7
Otto Weininger's maternal grandfather was Josef Frey--a
dealer in scrap iron. He was born at Kaladey, Bohemia, in 1829
and was married to Elonore Magdalene Griinwald, who was
born at Szenitz, Hungary, in 1837 and died in 1874. Josef
Frey carried on his trade in secondhand goods until 1879.
After that time he appeared on the official records as unem-
ployed. He died in 1901 of arteriosclerosis. He was the father
of three children, of whom the oldest, Adelheid (Adele), was
Otto's mother. She was born in Vienna on April 10,1857. '^ne
one fact we know of her early life is the death of her mother
when still quite young. Her family were orderly Jewish peo-
ple, although her brother Armand was reported to be not too
honest. The police reported that he was living in the ill-famed
Massenquartier II, Navarnegasse No. 45, "a favorite residence
of vagrants and tramps. " "He certainly," as the report said,
"did not have a clean record. "
Otto's father did not have a formal education.
