'THE SHADOW MOTHER: A Clinical Study of Traumatic Generational Narcissism'

'THE SHADOW MOTHER: A Clinical Study of Traumatic Generational Narcissism'

Flip through the book again.

You return to the table of contents:

Chapter 1: 'The Realm of the Shadow Mother.'

The Shadow Mother is clever, vain, domineering, and critical. In some cultures she may be revered as a leader or oracle. She resides in a remote, ice-strewn Realm beyond failure, fault, or accountability.

The word 'no' means nothing to the Shadow Mother. She knows only the Eternal Yes. In the Realm of the Shadow Mother, she is eye, locus, all.

Sounds terrifying.

A common response among those unable to comport themselves in the Mother's presence.

Others find it comforting to know that they're always under Her watchful gaze.

Sounds... familiar.

Visitors to the Mother's Realm are expected to remove their shoes at the door and not touch anything without permission.

Psych. Evaluation #23 ('Childhood Fears') -- Subject CASCADE describes at length negative feelings associated with mother's personal study, which contained multiple graphic depictions of vintage whaling practices.

I can still see flensing knives when I close my eyes.

A lifelong association between emotional distress and cetacean imagery is a small price to pay for access to the Mother's sanctum.

It wasn't that big a deal.

Whatever exists in the Realm of the Shadow Mother is hers to bestow or withhold. What does not hold her interest does not exist.

Chapter 2: 'Her Shadow Ways.'

The Shadow Mother manipulates to refashion reality to Her will.

Fortunately, the Shadow Mother needs no weapon but Her own organs of perception and expression: eyes and ears to spot the flaw, a tongue to put the flaw into words.

How does she become this way?

Her origins are often themselves enshrouded. To become what she is, she must first construct a so-called 'False Self', which becomes both her sword and her shield.

Her burden may prove unbearable. The pain of her own origins, the pressure of maintaining the 'False Self', these must be mirrored onto intimates and offspring alike.

I'm getting bored, when do I fight the Shadow Mother?

The child is always fighting the Shadow Mother, but to no avail. It is from conflict itself that she draws sustenance.

Psych. Evaluation #11 ('Emotional Response to Targeted Stimuli') -- Subject CASCADE responds poorly when faced with critique from a simulated maternal figure. Session devolves into name-calling and personal insults.

Maybe I could harness her shadow powers...

This is a work of clinical studies and analysis, not a How-To manual.

But what if it were?

In their reports, the Opera's psychomancers noted your morbid tendency to take on guilt for things you had nothing to do with.

This is how the Opera's psychomancers really see you -- a mad monster to zoologically classify. There's an entry somewhere in one of their bestiaries with your name on it.

Don't trouble yourself with jargon or theory. The only psychology you need to know is how far you can bend someone until they break.

You are too close to the subject of this field. Try as you might to understand, you'll forever be inside looking out -- never able to remove your own experiences from the equation, never really free.

Hrrmmm. (Go back.)

You slowly page back to the table of contents.

Chapter 3: 'The Child of Shadow.'

The offspring raised in the Realm of Shadow cannot fail to be shaped and moulded by the Mother's incisive words and forbidding glances until she accepts her role as a perfect doppelgänger herself.

In weaker offspring this often manifests in the form of personality disorders.

What kind of disorders?

'Gross stress reaction', obsessive-compulsions, fear and trembling, schizophrenia, mania and depression...

NORMAL REACTIONS TO THE DEGENERACY OF CAPITALIST LIFE. DISREGARD REACTIONARY DIAGNOSIS.

Very occasionally, the offspring may overcome these disorders by developing their own 'False Self', thus becoming their own Shadow Mother...

Chronic predisposition to failure, propensity for running networks into the ground.

What about shadow fathers? Can men not be narcissists?

Inconclusive. Lack of significant documentation available.

I'm starting to feel like Dr. Afonso is just really weird about women.

But the purpose of his research is to take the weird out of them.

This book seems pretty thoroughly researched, though.

It's a clinical study, not a comprehensive diagnostic of an entire class of disorders.

Is there any escape from the Realm of Shadow? (Proceed.)

Impossible. Their synapses have grown around the space occupied by Her. The shadow is woven into their very neurology.

Still, there are those who choose exile over life in the Realm. With them, no contact may be made. Their names are as dust to the Mother.

Flip to the very end.

Other works are also available for mail order through Treffe University press:

'Within the Grudging Sanctum: On Pathological Cartographies'; 'The Erotics of Self-Sabotage'; 'The Womb Wanderer: A Treatise of Hysterias, Borderline Personalities, and Other Feminine Ills'; 'Devotion, Depression, Deviation: The Daughter Problem'.

Enough of this. (Put the book away.)

You return the book to your belongings.

Examine the cover.

You see a human head in profile -- its top appears to have been sliced off. Where its brains should be, all manner of snakes and spiders appear to be spilling forth.

Best not to dwell upon it.

Deeply metaphorical. (Nod.)

For what it's worth, this is a common motif in psychology textbooks.

Somewhat disturbing.

Who's the author?

Dr. L Afonso, of the Polytechnic University of Treffe.

The Treffe School of psychoanalysis is known to be the most 'experimental' in the so-called Developed World.

Even smaller text informs you that Afonso's other publications include: 'Within the Grudging Sanctum: On Pathological Cartographies' and 'The Erotics of Self-Sabotage'.

Open the book.

The table of contents is laid out before you:

I'm out. (Put the book away.)

Totally at odds with the subtitle, the cover catches your eye with a flourish of surreal violence.