Sleep Walking and Moon Walking: A Medico-Literary StudySadger, J.
Science
Sleep Walking and Moon Walking: A Medico-Literary Study
Sadger, J.
Psychoanalysis; Sleepwalking
"For she had loved Soelver from the first springtime kiss, which he had
imprinted upon her cheek as she wandered among the fresh May bells,
loved him in the blow which she had inflicted upon his head when he had
touched her chaste nakedness, loved him in those nights when he had
slept uncomplaining in the cellar dungeon, loved him in those bitter
moments of his humbling when he, in spite of scorn and insult,
maintained his pride, loved him that evening when he kneeled at her
father's bier and kissed the hand of his enemy now dead, loved him day
by day all the time they were together, loved him in that hour when she
saw his banner disappear among the hundred others, and today upon
Aebeloe when she heard that new life singing within hers. And now she
rejoiced; for she bore him always within her, she could never again lose
her Soelver."
As we glance over the material of this tale, we find as the nucleus of
the night wandering and moon walking the strong repression of every
conscious love impulse and the breaking through of the unconscious in
sleep and dream wherever the censor's rule is relaxed. For the maiden
Gro had loved Soelver from the first moment, yet this love was confessed
only in moments of occasional self forgetfulness, as by the first
meeting with the young nobleman, when her hand met his, yes, even
pressed it for the moment. Only Gro should not have been frightened out
of her half unconscious action by a kiss or a passionate desire, for at
once there arose to life within her the coldness and haughtiness of her
father and the highhanded reaction which her mother had manifested to
her conqueror. The determining factor, to speak in psychoanalytic
language, is the struggle between the strong sexual rejection and the
equally compelling sexual desire. At first the former held the upper
hand with our heroine in her waking and conscious action, the latter in
the unconscious. Through the force of her will Gro seemed cold, even as
she had learned of her father. She defended herself from her lover's
craving by force and blow; even when conquered finally through the noble
spirit of her enemy, she would see in him only the friend for life and
death. She directly refused to think of love and displaced it to
external things, she even bade the young man go rather than desire her
as his wife. Soelver's devotion reminded her most significantly of her
mother's tenderness, his pride, of the brother of her childhood. "It is
as if in you the proud brother of my childhood had returned. Your spirit
is his. Leave it so, stay with me as my brother or leave me like my
brother, but never speak to me of love, neither in words nor in looks,
for I know no reply!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account