The Great Listener¹

Abstract

This article is a translation of a story published in Die Zeit, April 27, 2006. It describes the dramatic single session a young woman, Margarethe Walter (married name, Margarethe Lutz), had with Sigmund Freud in 1936, as she told it to the author Peter Roos 70 years later.

• Freud
• Adult
• dissent

Notes

¹ This article is a translation of an article published April 27, 2006, in the German weekly Die Zeit entitled “Der große Zuhörer,” by Peter Roos, © 2006 by Peter Roos. Permission to translate and include the article in this journal in all formats was granted to the journal Psychoanalytic Perspectives by Peter Roos, who retains the copyright of the original article. Any other use of the article requires permission from the author, Peter Roos. This translation, by Kenneth Kronenberg, Cambridge, Massachusetts, was commissioned by Psychoanalytic Perspectives, © 2016 by Psychoanalytic Perspectives.

² Editor’s note: Margarethe Walter was known for most of her adult life and professionally by her married name, Margarethe Lutz. See the section on “Finding Margarethe Lutz” in the editors’ Afterword, this issue.

³ See editors’ Afterword, “Finding Margarethe Lutz,” this issue, for further information.

⁴ Editors’ note: We are unable to find a movie with that title starring Lillian Harvey and Conrad Veith. However, Margarethe told Christine Dohler (2009) that the movie was with Lillian Harvey and Willy Fritsch without mentioning the title. It appears Harvey and Fritsch made quite a number of movies together.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peter Roos

Peter Roos Born in 1950. Freelance writer. Lives in Zimmern and in Vienna. Studied philology, philosophy, cultural studies in Tübingen and Siena. Studied German Area Studies, Women’s Studies, Jewish Studies at Washington University, St. Louis. Degree: M.A. Psychotherapeutic training. Works for theater, opera, ballet, film, performances. Translations. Journalism for radio and television, and for leading German-language forums: Der Spiegel, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, TransAtlantik, and Die Zeit.

Numerous book publications, including:

• Von der Abschaffung des Tageslichts. Letzter Versuch, die Welt zu verändern [On the Abolition of Daylight: The Last Attempt to Change the World]

• Vespa stracciatella. Ein Italienroman [Vespa Stracciatella: An Italian Novel]

• Trau keinem über 30. Portrait einer pubertierenden Generation [Don’t Trust Anyone over 30: Portrait of a Pubescent Generation]

• Die wilden 40er. Ein soziologischer Roman [The Wild 40s: A Sociological Novel]

• Hitler Lieben. Roman einer Krankheit [Hitler Love: Novel of a Disease]

• Du pinkelst ja im Sitzen. Ein Männerbriefroman [You Pee Sitting Down: An Epistolary Men’s Novel]

• Der weibliche Körper, der männliche Blick: Félicien Rops. Bilder&Essays. Zusammen mit Friederike Hassauer [With Friederike Hassauer. Félicien Rops: The Female Body, The Male Gaze. Images and Essays]