Freud in the Adirondacks

Leon Hoffman has a fun piece in the New York Times about Sigmund Freud’s trip to the U.S. a century ago.

It turns out a pivotal part of the Great Man’s single journey to America took him to Keene Valley in the Adirondacks.

According to Hoffman, Freud spent time in the North Country with James Jackson Putnam, who had a camp here.

Putnam was a Harvard professor and one of the proponents of psychotherapy in America.

Freud marveled at Putnam Camp, “where we had an opportunity of being acquainted with the utter wilderness of such an American landscape.” In several days of hiking and feasting, Putnam and Freud cemented a strong bond.

I know it sounds a little provincial — regional pride and all that — but it’s hard to overstate the importance the Adirondacks have enjoyed in the cultural and intellectual life of this nation.

It turns out there’s actually a book about “Putnam Camp,” published in 2006 by George Prochnik.

Carl Jung was there, too, as was William James. Here’s an account from the New York Times Book Review:

Freud proved something of a wet blanket, disdaining the sailor outfit worn by Putnam’s teenage cousin and lagging on the group’s vigorous hikes. His private goal, of seeing a porcupine, was fulfilled in part — he found a dead one. Jung was jollier and made a better impression, but it was Freud who gained Putnam’s admiration.

Tags: adirondacks