"Marmite set me thinking about the tyranny of mental health—and how we seem to regard only perfect wellness as acceptable"
by Anna Blundy / December 14, 2016 / Leave a commentPublished in January 2017 issue of Prospect Magazine
©Bill Bradford
Driving from Bagni di Lucca in northern Italy to London recently, using my black labrador, Marmite, as a psychoanalyst (he is good—sparing with interpretation but a deeply thoughtful listener), I had two audiobooks on the go. In the first, Alice Hoffman’s Illumination Night, published in 1987, the main character Vonny becomes agoraphobic as her estranged father refuses to contribute to her son’s medical bills and her husband begins an affair with a teenager. Her agoraphobia, which she tries to hide by lying, is treated with long-distance therapy and she starts to make small journeys out, building up to longer drives and then ultimate freedom and plot-driven catastrophe.
In the second, Proust’s Swann’s Way, published in 1913, I was introduced to Aunt Léonie, a bedridden lady who “always talked rather softly because she thought there was something broken and floating in her head that she would have displaced by speaking too loudly.” But she also talks constantly “because she believed it was beneficial to her throat.” Though there clearly is something broken in her head, the family accept her as she is, pandering to her whims until she eventually dies.
You have now reached your allowance of 3 free articles in the last 30 days.
Don’t worry—to get another 7 articles absolutely free, just enter your email address in the box below.
You are in complete control of which 7 articles you choose to read. Register now to enjoy more of the finest writing on politics, economics, literature, the arts, philosophy and science.
When you register, we’ll also send you our free e-book—The past in perspective—which considers how reflecting on the past can give great insight into the present AND we’ll send you our free weekly newsletter. (If you prefer not to receive the newsletter you can unsubscribe at any time).
Prospect takes your privacy seriously. We promise never to rent or sell your e-mail address to any third party.
You can unsubscribe from the Prospect e-mail newsletter at any time.
