The relationship between Sigmund Freud and Lou Andreas Salomé was characterized by deep respect. The correspondence begins in 1912 with Lou Andreas Salomé's request to be allowed to come to Vienna to study psychoanalysis with Freud. They had met in Weimar the previous autumn. In Freud's psychoanalysis, Lou Andreas Salomé discovered an organon that allowed her to process her own rich observations and experiences theoretically. This correspondence is likely to captivate readers familiar with psychoanalysis as well as those more interested in literary and contemporary events. Sigmund Freud to Lou Andreas Salomé: "I strike a melody - usually quite simple. You add the higher octaves; I separate one thing from the other and you combine the separated things into a higher unity. You are an understander par excellence."