Surrogate mirrors...

In a book review this morning they spoke about the new Swedish book ”Vi som hade alla rätt” translated it is something in the style “We, for whom everything was right” (or Dare to refuse superficiality or skin-deepness as it stood in the linked article) by Kristina Thulin and Jenny Östergren. See here and here about it in Swedish.

The reviewer thought it was about the ones that have everything, everything is right, those who have family, kids, house, car, a god job etc., i.e.all outer attributes. The book is about two female journalists in upper middle-class and lower middle-age at a commercial TV-company. One or both are living for the confirmation in being seen. But this life is fairly short-lived. To say it briefly.

In spite of this everything is wrong, their lives are in chaos, they aren’t satisfied.

What I wanted to come to: it struck me all of a sudden when I listened to this review what Miller she has written about surrogate mirrors. About a woman falling into a deep and severe depression when she reached (upper?) middle age and the men didn’t stand in queue for her. She hadn't developed a true self to a higher degree tragically. Without tis she was nothing she thought...

All her affairs and her attractiveness had served as a substitute or surrogate for other things, and so long as she had all this she could hold the depression away. But suddenly all her surrogate-mirrors were crushed…