Amour Fou - Page 2

It's the story, or rather the case history, of that crazy love that Anthony Walker tells in his book, Siren's Dance. He meets the love of his life in the hospital, where she's landed after a break up with her most recent boyfriend. He's in the final year of medical school, preparing to set off on the final- and most intense - leg of his medical training. He knows she's a borderline. He knows what that means. His friends warn him. His attending physicians warn him. His family warns him. All to no avail. She's vivacious and beautiful. She gives herself completely and totally. Her family - part Jewish, part Cuban - are appeallingly sensuous. They live for good music, good food, and good wine. The attraction is just too strong for this boy from a button-downed Catholic family for whom duty is everything. He's convinced that her troubles stem from a lack of love and understanding, and that he can give her the kind of love she needs to make everything all right. He's drawn into the dance.

Unfortunately, life with a wife whose happiness hinges on his smile proves emotionally exhausting - no matter how beautiful and sexually pleasing she may be. It's no help that the first year of their marriage coincides with his internship year, the one year when a young doctor must give his all to medicine - all his time, all his energy, and all his concentration. She does everything within her power to shift the focus of his life back to herself. She calls him away from the bedsides of his patients demanding that her own needs be met. She throws things. She makes suicide attempts. Finally, she suceeds in convincing him to leave the internship of his choice and move back to Florida, where they can live with her family. Bad move. Her family is part of the problem. She didn't learn her horribly maladaptive behavior in a void, after all. And medicine, in any geography, is a demanding mistress. Their discord and her violence, escalate. It's only when his life is threatened that he decides to make a break. He only wanted to be her personal Jesus figuratively, not literally.

Article Author: Sydney Smith

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