The Son's Room

Abstract

PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF: THE SON'S ROOM Although we know that after such a loss the acute state of mourning will subside, we also know we shall remain inconsolable and will never find a substitute. No matter what will fill the gap, even if it be filled completely, it nevertheless remains something else. And actually this is how it should be. It is the only way of perpetuating that love which we do not want to relinquish. Sigmund Freud, Letter to Ludwig Binswanger (1929) PHILIP FRENCH makes the point that La Stanza del Figlio (the Italian title of The Son's Room) carries a pun. In addition to 'the room' explicit in the English version, stanza also means a verse in both languages, thus suggesting the idea of 'a poem or part of a life left standing' (2002). In this pun lies the key to what makes...