Invisible Women

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“There is a girl,” Lou Andreas tells Freud, “who I cannot seem to understand because she was so exceedingly normal, without fault or flaw, until she became sick with scarlet fever two years ago. Before then, she was a happy child, without care or concern for the world around her, except that she put constant attention to ensuring that her parents were satisfied. Then, she became sick, and since then, she has not slept. She will remain awake for weeks because she knows that once she sleeps for longer than one hour, the nightmares will begin and shortly thereafter, she will scream herself awake.”

Freud responds, or imagines responding, something relating to masturbation.

“She has told me,” the Russian tells, or imagines telling, the doctor, “that there is a strong correlation between beauty and death. This is, perhaps, the most perplexing facet of her case, and it is not what she says but that she must think this. Indeed, she is a beautiful girl, even without sleep, and people often praise her for her beauty.”

Freud responds in long soliloquies, offering her advice, but she does not hear. Lou Andreas tells the great doctor about her patient but she does not wait to hear his response. She does not need to hear his response.