La Mort héroïque chez l’adolescent : héros à la cicatrice et kalos thanatos

Abstract

ObjectivesWhat is the function of heroic death for adolescents in therapy ? The authors present a clinical fragment of three teenagers engaged in risky behavior. The use of the classical expression kalos thanatos (the beautiful death) leads to the figure of the ephebe as a prototypical adolescent warrior. In addition, the concepts of blazons and of scarred heroes are mobilized to think about the clinical stakes of this heroic death. MethodAn initial structural analysis linking blazons and scarred heroes allows us to think the erotic body articulated with the heroic death. A second structural analysis explores the stakes of rap and the figure of Tony Montana (Scarface) in the transferential dynamic. ResultsThe concept of the scarred hero, with its four structural characteristics, is an ideal vehicle for the heroic death. In the transference, the heroic death becomes the condition of kleos aphtiton (immortal glory). Teenagers’ fascination with Tony Montana, facing the analyst, makes it possible to move from the event of heroic death to its reception in the transference, to its conversion into immortal glory. DiscussionIn the transference, the analyst can embody the figure of the Aoidos, who sings the immortal glory of the ephebe killed in battle. The analyst therefore has a poetic or interpretative function. ConclusionIn conclusion, the clinician-as-“Aoidos” welcomes the kalos thanatos and converts it into kleos aphtiton in the transference and through the work of construction over the course of the analysis.