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Saturday, April 2, 2016

B IS FOR BOXES?

“No one who, like me, conjures up the most evil of those half-tamed demons that inhabit the human breast, and seeks to wrestle with them, can expect to come through the struggle unscathed.” 
 - Sigmund Freud


The ghost of Mark Twain had wandered off in search of pretty young girls with innocent, trusting eyes. 

I looked back to the ghost of Freud.

He looked younger.  Meilori's was like that. 

Few ghosts remained the same during a conversation with them.

His lips wrinkled as if expecting trouble.  "All right, young man, what first enters your mind when I say B?"

"Boxes," I said.

He glared at the retreating form of Mark Twain. 

"No wonder he left.  He was afraid I would upbraid him for contaminating this exercise!"

"It's more like braids than upbraids, sir.  He's after Alice Liddell over there."

Freud sighed, "The man's obsession with his Angel Fish Club saddens me."

"I know it might strike you as a perversion, sir.  But it isn't. 

Towards the end of his life, he suffered quite a lot of loss.  In 1896 his favorite daughter, Susy, died. 

His wife passed away in 1904 and a second daughter, Jean, followed in 1909."

I looked sadly at Twain making Alice Liddell giggle. 

"So he created a club of sorts made up of surrogate granddaughters he called the Angel Fish Club."

Mark Twain and Dorothy Quick 

Freud glowered, "You are naïve."

"I choose to think of it as believing the best of a friend."

Freud snorted as if to blow away irritating gnats. 

"What is this nonsense of you thinking Boxes when I say B?"

I said, "You left the Library of Congress 153 boxes of your correspondence.   Of those, 19 boxes can’t be opened until 2020, 2050 or 2057.

Another 8 boxes are sealed forever.  Why would you give them boxes that could not be opened?  And why on earth would they accept them?"

Freud showed me his teeth in what wasn't in the same galaxy as a real smile.  "Why indeed?"

He showed me a mortician's face.  "Shall we proceed to C?"


26 comments:

  1. I do love a closed box. The temptation and intrigue when staring at a sealed box is compelling. Great post, Roland. Really enjoying the conversations.

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    1. A closed box is filled with mystery and potential -- just like the mind of each person we pass on the street. I'm glad you are enjoying this sojourn in haunted Meilori's. :-)

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  2. Freud definitely puts me off. There's just something about him - didn't he blame a lot on mothers?

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    1. Freud does come off a little pushy. In your face? Larger than life?

      Enjoyed this one, Roland.

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    2. Freud could be kind, but he could also be hateful -- dangerous in a psychiatrist. And many of his theories have fallen into disrepute -- like the mother ones! Twain gets into that with my M post!! :-)

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  3. Don't box me in... ha!

    Welcome in the letter "B"... thank you!
    Jeremy [Retro]
    AtoZ Challenge Co-Host [2016]

    Stop over and find a free "SIX STRINGS: BLOGGING AtoZ CHALLENGE" Here: http://www.jmhdigital.com/

    HOLLYWOOD NUTS!
    You know you want to know if me or Hollywood... is Nuts?

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    1. That means a lot. I am working today, but I promise to get to your and my other friends' blogs!

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  5. I love Freud and the boxes thing is very fitting!
    Debbie

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    1. Debbie, Freud is a fascinating man, and I thought this bit about those boxes of his would be of interest to those who might not know.

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  6. Hi Roland ... gosh so letters and articles awaiting prying eyes in the 21st C .. and I bet eager ones at that ...

    110 years I can see, 140 years and 147 - what was special about them ... and why did he have such a high regard for his writing .. or perhaps he thought 'we might be better people by now'?

    Don't constrain me! Cheers Hilary

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    1. Perhaps he thought the children and grandchildren of those in the letters would all be dead by that time? Freud was a complicated man!

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  7. I wonder what is in all of those boxes? Will it be anything really worthwhile?

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    1. Maybe some real surprises? Or maybe just of interest to Freudian historians? Time will literally tell. :-)

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  8. A mystery! What indeed is in those boxes? Will the day of opening be a good day, or a doomsday? How many people do you suppose will turn out for the "grand opening?" Hope you are having fun with the A to Z.
    @ScarlettBraden from
    Frankly Scarlett

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    1. Only 4 more years for some of those boxes to be opened!

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  9. I still think Freud was one messed up cokehead. Closed boxes offer like the ultimate mystery. Choose wisely.

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    1. The ghost of Mark Twain agrees with you. :-) So did Carl Jung, too!

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  10. Ooh, creepy! Is that true about the boxes, Roland?

    What a sadist!

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    1. Yes, it is true about the boxes as it is true about the Angel Fish Club. Freud was a complex man. He projected his own feelings onto Jung which caused all manner of sparks between the two men. I speak of this in my K post. :-)

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  11. Did I dream this up, or did I read that Freud and his wife shared their home with his wife's sister, who was his mistress? If so, I'm sure he had stories that could fill a LOT of boxes!!

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    1. They shared their home with the sister of Freud's wife, Minna.

      Jung met Minna in 1907, upon his first visit to Berggasse 19. He says that Minna confessed the relationship to him a few days later, because she felt guilty about it.

      Something truly weird:

      Minna’s small sleeping quarters were right next to Sigmund and Martha’s bedroom, and separated only by a flimsy partition, not a wall and door. The only way Minna could get to her room was to walk through the bedroom that her sister and brother-in-law shared.

      The smoking gun?

      In 1898, during a two-week vacation in the Swiss Alps, Freud and Minna registered at an inn as “Dr Sigm Freud u frau” — i.e., as man and wife.

      They took the largest room in the hotel, but one that had what is described as a “double bed.”

      Soon after they checked in, Freud sent his wife a postcard that regaled her with details about the gorgeous scenery, but described their lodgings as “humble,” even though the hotel was “the second fanciest in town.”

      The book you might be thinking of is FREUD'S MISTRESS by Karen Mack and Jennifer Kaufman.

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  12. Haha maybe some boxes need to remain closed or thrown out before opening. Love reading your conversations with Freud. He irritates me.

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    1. The more you study the private life of Freud, the more you want all those boxes to remain closed!

      Freud was sure he knew about the human psyche when he was only surmising. Interesting and sad man.

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  13. Back again. Quite humorous. But I have a technical question. Can't for a follow option anywhere. Am I missing it? What would Freud say?

    Point the way, if you would.
    Thanks
    Fim aka Enelinwen

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    1. Be glad to.

      Thanks for wanting to follow, Enelinwen. My followers section is on the side bar between the image of FRENCH QUARTER NOCTURNE and my ABOUT ME profile.

      Freud was a grouch. Don't listen to him says the ghost of Mark Twain! :-)

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