What is it with great writers and clinical narcissism? Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters certainly have their prime examples (Lady Catherine in 'Pride and Prejudice' along with Jane's aunt in 'Jane Eyre' and the husband in 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall,' just to name a few), but I seem to run across it in many famous or classic books. I just read T.H.White's 'The Once and Future King' and it comprises the entire base of the story amongst the 'Orkney Faction:' Morgause and her sons. It is scarily fascinating how he actually delves briefly into the issue, determining that it is the mother's relationship with her child that imbues him or her with courage and love for others, etc. rather than acquiring it externally from teachers or experience. This is not to say such things cannot be learned later in life, but if no conscious effort is made to acquire them, and we merely live out our lives unconscious to our own failings as is the wont of so many, the result can be disastrous, as the tale goes on to show.
The scientific and sociological literature rarely touches on this subject, and if it does, it is only a brief and indifferent look at the havoc it can wreak upon the human heart, soul, and mind, especially when it is a parent. But it is heartening to find that we are not alone, that it has been a social travesty down through the ages, and perhaps the suffering and grief involved in such relationships has produced some of the world's greatest writers and most renowned books. The home is supposed to be safe and sacred, it is our first introduction to the world and our initial classroom, but what happens when it becomes twisted, broken, and cruel? Certain authors have offered us a glimpse into such a hell and the demons it is wont to produce, but we also find that all is not lost, they have escaped it and proved that they have become stronger thereby and that gives hope to all who lived through just that, whether we yet realize it or not.
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