Page - 50 - in Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Puberty and Adolescence - The Inner Worlds of Teenagers and their Parents

50 Psychosexual development in puberty Now we turn to a work written 150 years after Werther, one that describes the unhappy love of a young man for a married woman. At the age of 17, Raymond Radiguet wrote the novel The Devil in the Flesh (1968, first published 1923), considered by critics at the time to be a tasteless act of provocation. Three years later, the author died of typhoid fever. Synopsis Radiguet tells the story of a 16 -year -old adolescent, Francois, who is in love with the 18 -year -old married woman Marthe, whose husband is a soldier fighting in World War I. Francois is in the middle of his adolescence, whereas Marthe is already an adult, but very lonely. This story of adultery is vividly described from the perspective of the young lover, who goes practically mad from love, in the process subjecting both his and Marthe’s emotions to a kind of experimentation. The evil, seductive woman can be said to have “the devil in the flesh”. Fran- cois reflects on his behavior: “something is driving me”, he believes. His rival Jacques is a soldier on the front and defending his country, whereas Francois, a spoiled boy, neither attends school nor has a job. His concerns are love, his lust, his budding bad conscience and his cruelty towards Marthe, whom he observes and describes closely. Radiguet depicts two souls in their upward soar, their common dreams and the physical rapture of their night together. In spite of subterfuges and lies, they cannot keep their affair a secret for long. Marthe becomes pregnant, although it is unclear whether by her husband or Francois. She then dies giving birth, but only after naming the child Francois. Discussion Radiguet perceptively describes Francois’ inner contradictions, fueled by his youthful passion, as he experiments with his and Marthe’s feelings: “Happiness makes you egoistic” (Radiguet 1968, 27). Every detail of their mutual seduction is described, but Radiguet also describes this young man’s own contradictory nature and fear: “It’s not because I’m afraid,” I repeated to myself. “It’s only her parents and my father that are stopping me from leaning over and kissing her.” But deep inside me another boy was only too pleased that such a barrier existed. “What a good thing I’m not alone with her,” he thought. “For I’d be just as afraid to kiss her and would have no excuse for not doing so.” Which is how the timorous deceive themselves. (Radiguet 1968, 23) Francois acutely observes how his longing draws him to Marthe – he breaks his resolution not to visit her earlier than they had agreed; although he finds an