Maugham and Freud

“It was something of a task, for he is a dull and verbose writer, and the acrimony with which he claims to have originated such and such a theory shows a vanity and a jealousy of others working in the same field which somewhat ill become the man of science. I believe, however, that he was a kindly and benign old party. … I found nothing in my re-reading of Freud’s works that cast any light on the subject I had in mind.”–THE KITE by W. Somerset Maugham

You can see here how Maugham described Sigmund Freud.

“But most important and most revealing is Freud’s ‘Freudian slip’ in respect to his being ‘ignored’ by the Viennese physicians. He had to suppress their rejection of him; and he could do it only by pretending, above all to himself, that they were not discussing him, not doubting him, not rejecting him, but ignoring him.”—ADVENTURES OF A BYSTANDER by Peter F. Drucker

" I believe, however, that he (Freud) was a kindly and benign old party."

How incredibly condescending of Maugham!