The mother-daughter relationship. "A story without a name" by Barbey d'Aurevilly

In 1967, some hematologists who were inspired by Barbey d'Aurevilly's novel, "A story without a name", described the syndrome of Lasthenie de Ferjol: recurrent anemia resulting from voluntarily provoked hemorrhages. We used the same novel as a basis for studying the mother-daughter relationship. Madame de Ferjol is widowed, and lives a reclusive life with her only daughter, Lasthenie, until such time as a capuchin priest enters their life during Lent. This unexpected encounter with sexuality (Lasthenie becomes pregnant) has a marked effect upon the young woman; she withdraws into total silence, and displays self-mutilating behavior (provoked bouts of anemia) which leads to her death and to that of her unborn child. In this tale, we see a paradigm of the mother-child relationship that has already been observed in anorexia nervosa. Mother and daughter are caught up in a narcissistic dyad fom which neither is able to extricate herself. The mother remains in a pathological state of mourning, and we put forward the hypothesis that this dead mother is affected by a melancholic process in which her hatred is projected onto her daughter. Finally, we have attempted to examine the connections between hysteria and anorexia nervosa, as in this story rivalry between mother and daughter also plays a role, and in which sexuality-therefore involving a third party-is unmentionable. (C) 2003 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS. Tous droits reserves.