(2002). Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 71:559-576 Introducing Jane and “Lou”Jane plays out a scene in which she kills her mother so that her father's energy will be fully restored, permitting the two of them to have more fun. She is sure that he is ineffectual and withdrawn because of something her mother is doing to him. After Jane has dispatched her mother, however, she feels worried: first, father is no different, and second, she knows that what she did was wrong. “I'm going to do it a little differently this time,” she announces. “I shall only tie up Mother and put her in a cage. I won't kill her after all.” Many variations on this theme then preoccupy us. Jane was six years old and had been in analysis for two years when the above scene took place. Whenever Jane “killed,” she took the name “Lou” for herself, as a shortened form of “Luigi,” although at other times, she used “Lou” to mean “Louisa. [This is a summary or excerpt from the full text of the book or article. The full text of the document is available to subscribers.] |
