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Washington, United States
loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !

Thursday, October 06, 2016

alfred adler parts from his dog

Alfred Adler, the Austrian founder of the school of individual psychology, realized in the early 1930's that he and his family would have to leave their home behind due to the political climate.  He made arrangements to close his home in Salmannsdorf, Vienna, in preparation for a move to the United States.  His student and friend, the novelist Phyllis Bottome, was present on his last day in his home.  In her biography of Adler she records this one small but evocative detail of his parting from so much he had loved:
Adler's dog walked stiffly with him to the gate as if he knew this was the end. It was the only time that the author ever heard Adler sigh. He patted the dog's head, and explained apologetically: "He is staying on with kind people that he likes very well, but I am afraid that they may forget to brush him—and he likes so much to be brushed."
-- Bottome, P. (1939). Alfred Adler: a biography. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 184.

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