‘Flirting’ with Death: Fantasies of A Critically III Woman

Abstract

This report is based on the TAT stories of a woman hospitalized for cancer. The stories are analyzed with particular attention to material suggesting that the fantasy of Death as a Lover, dating back to antiquity, continues to live in the unconscious. The Liebestod motif in this unmarried woman follows upon a theme of disappointment in men, especially the father. It is suggested that as the patient faces the possible termination of life, she personifies death and libidinizes their encounter. The man in the death-fantasy appears to be an idealized version of the oedipal object.

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