“Never Mind” (Book 1) by Edward St Aubyn: Patrick, Age 5, is Abused and Raped by His Father, in this First of Five Patrick Melrose Novels

Memory Gap:“The thought of lunch dragged him back into the present with a strong sense of anxiety. What was the time? Was he too late?…Would he have to eat alone with his father? He always recovered from his mental truancy with disappointment. He enjoyed the feeling of blankness, but it frightened him afterwards when he came out of it and could not remember what he had been thinking (1, pp. 96-7).

“The harder he struggled, the harder he was hit. Longing to move but afraid to move, he was split in half by this incomprehensible violence…After the beating, his father dropped him like a dead thing onto the bed” (1, p. 100).

“Who could he [Patrick’s father] tell that he had raped his five-year-old son?” (1, p. 105).

Comment: Memory gaps are a cardinal symptom of multiple personality (a.k.a. dissociative identity disorder). Search “memory gaps” in this blog.

1. Edward St Aubyn. Never Mind. London, Picador. 1992/1998.

“Bad News” (Book 2) by Edward St Aubyn: Patrick, Now a 22-year-old drug addict, in New York City for the Funeral of his Father, has “another bout of compulsive mimicry”

“Patrick [abusing heroin and cocaine], slumped back in the chair…For a moment he fell quiet. But soon a new character installed itself in his body…launching him into another bout of compulsive mimicry” (2, p, 103-122): including “The Fat Man, “Nanny,” “Gary,” and more than five others.

Comment: A history of childhood trauma, memory gaps, and changes in personality suggest multiple personality disorder, not “compulsive mimicry” (which is not a diagnosis). In a novel, a character’s multiple personality may reflect the author’s creative, multiple personality trait. 

And a clinical diagnosis of multiple personality is often missed when there is an easier, more obvious diagnosis like drug abuse.

Finally, as the back cover says, Patrick heard “insistent inner voices.” Search "voices” in this blog for past discussions of this symptom of multiple personality.

2. Edward St Aubyn. Bad News, London, Picador, 1992/1998.