Mayhem

Mayhem is Christopher Bollas's third novella, following the highly acclaimed Dark at the End of the Tunnel and I Have Heard the Mermaids Singing. Readers return to the urban village where the psychoanalyst and a diverse mix of other characters encounter life. Mrs. Stottlemeyer hates psychoanalysis, yet pays a surprise visit to the analyst's office, demanding that he resolve a dilemma posed by her long deceased husband. The psychoanalyst finds himself in an excruciatingly embarrassing sexual encounter with a young woman. The country is riveted by an exhibition called A Life, in which an eminent curator has assembled a showcase of her son's life. Art critics feel gagged and agree not to discuss the show until it closes, forcing people into confusion about the son's life and the meaning of the exhibit. The psychoanalyst is incensed by the rise of a new therapy, 'funeralism', which specializes in deciding when relationships are dead and arranges 'funerals' to formally end such relations. A