(^7) [ 1936-1939 ]
entirely the wrong track or you will have to carry the dreadful burden
of psychoanalysis completely alone." As to the latter, 1 wish he had
not been proven so right.
Do please let me know in good time the day of your arrival.
[In the three months between this letter and th e one th at follows,
Neill traveled to Norway as planned and worked with Reich. He
also came to know some of th e people who were working and
studying with Reich.]
Summerhill School
Leiston, Suffolk
My dear Reich,
- I •
February 22, 1938So far I am dead. No sex, no interest in work or play, just
dull and depressed with frequent headaches. But already 1 feel a change
coming, and hope to give you a more cheerful report soon. Depressed
about my work. The boy bedwetters all hold back their abdomens and
are stiff, * but I can only observe that and feel depressed at not being
able to do anything for them. Babe Sehnsucht nach Oslo [I am yearn
ing for Oslo].
Helgat was on the boat but I had no interest in her at all. So eine
Geschichte! [What a business!] Am reading Bionet. slowly but again de
pressed because too scientific for me.
But there are good signs. Less afraid of the wife, and more decided
about making up my mind. Very conscious of the Narcism [sic], and
able to smile at its signs when they appear.
Thanks for much. I long to return again.- I •
* While in Oslo, Neill had learned from Reich to see this as a sign of repression
and tension.
t This is not the lady's true name; we have used the pseudonym Neill himself
used in his autobiography.
* Die Bione, 19 38 (The Bion Experiments, 1979 ). Reich here documents the
series of experiments he carried out in Oslo. These, he held, opened the way to an
understanding of the origin of life and provided the basis for all his later work with
cancer and or gone biophysics.