The dissociation of a personality : a biographical study in abnormal psychology / by Morton Prince.

  • Morton Prince
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The dissociation of a personality : a biographical study in abnormal psychology / by Morton Prince. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ‘ ‘ Marr’d in Making ” you know. I hope you may have read it too, else you won’t understand very well what I’m going to say. B I found the book — found Beth at least an utterly in- comprehensible creature, and had several discussions about it with Miss L., that vivacious French woman, you remember? C. was impressed by what Miss L. said, and rather shaken in her convictions, so much so in fact that she re-read the book a chapter at a time, making certain critical notes as she went along. Then she had another talk with Miss L., which ended l)y Mademoiselle telling her that she had no doubt whatever about Beth being drawn from life — she had known dozens of girls like her — but she realized the utter impossibility of a nature like C.’s being able to see that. She said that very likely C. would not recognize her even if she were living in the same house with her; and so on. C. remained unconvinced, al- though she said very little. I know that she was perfectly sincere in this discussion — perfectly. Now IV. “ Interrupted by Mr. N. ; he has been here for two hours, watching IV’s poses. I ’ll write it out for you later. I want to finish this now. “ IV stumbled across the book by accident a few weeks ago and read it through at one sitting. She seemed very much in- terested in it, but I paid no particular attention until she asked Miss F. about it and got her to read it. Then I was simply astounded to hear them comparing notes of their own experi- ences with those of Beth’s. They thought Beth ‘ most won- derfully interpreted,’they ‘ understood exactly how she felt in the presence of any real emotion or feeling,’ and they sympa- thized deeply with her in her efforts to avoid such scenes. At the time I thought B IV was saying all these things for effect, to draw out Miss F'. I wondered why she should tell so many lies. “ One would have been enough — just to say that she thought the book good. Now, however, I am not so sure she was lying. It may be that she really does understand Beth as one akin to her, and that she would rather be like that than B I. Do you think so ? I could tell you heaps of things, if it did n’t take so long to write them, which, apparently very puzzling,