64 Myron SharafFury On Earth
moods; abhorrent because he could apply such pressure to induce her to do what he want-
ed and because, in his bad moods, he could be so touchy and easily angered. In spite of her
mixed feelings, for a period she was very much under his influence. If he failed in persuad-
ing her to finish medical school, he succeeded in arousing her lasting interest in psychoanaly-
sis.
During Reich’s first year of medical school, Laszky had been helpful to him in a
very practical way. He had little money and was often hungry. Through her father, who was
a doctor, her family had access to food, so she shared with Reich the daily lunch she brought
from home. But Reich also needed supper. Lia persuaded her mother to give her bigger and
bigger lunches, ostensibly to assuage her ever more ravenous hunger. Finally her parents
began to worry about her health and arranged for her to have a medical exam. Lia then told
them the truth. Her father invited Reich to call and gave him a small allowance. Not long
afterward, Lia’s interest in psychoanalysis developed under Reich’s influence. Her father, a
bitter opponent of Freud’s work, was outraged and blamed Reich. The allowance was cut
off and he was no longer welcomed in the Laszky home.
This incident is very illustrative of the way Reich dealt with help from others. Reich
is assisted by someone. He takes it more or less for granted, at least if the person does not
seem to be making any great sacrifice.As Laszky says: “He wasn’t worried that he often ate
my whole lunch.” He undoubtedly felt that she didn’t have to worry about her next meal, he
did. And he also appears to have been quite prepared to take an allowance from Lia’s father
without any obligation to defer to her father in a major way. Reich was interested in psycho-
analysis, Lia should be, and to hell with what her father thought. Conversely, Reich himself
was often very generous to people in need so long as he could give freely. If he was expect-
ed to give, it could be quite a different story, as we shall see in later contexts.
In spite of the family opposition, or perhaps in part because of it, the friendship
between Willy and Lia continued to develop. Whether Reich was in love with her we do not
know,though it appears that at one point he wanted to marry her. For all his fascination, Lia
Laszky was not in love with him “I was a virgin and he was a steamroller.” She felt that for
him the conquest was more the issue than love:conquering this attractive, vivacious, intelli-
gent young girl, this virgin, this daughter of a physician, this in many ways reluctant woman.
In fact,they did not have intercourse at that time. According to Laszky, “I was too fright-
ened, too inhibited.” Her refusal angered Reich, but it did not stop his pursuit of her^16.
Another characteristic element ofReich’s personality was revealed in his relation-
ship with Lia: his intense jealousy. These feelings were quite realistically aroused by a strong
competitor, the conductor Hans Swarowski, whom Lia had met during her first year of med-
ical school.Swarowski wanted to marry her, and over time it became clear that she preferred
him to Willy. Her fiancé asked her to give up medical school so she would be free to travel
with him. Willy did not surrender easily, but kept pursuing her, once even surprising her by
appearing unannounced on a train when she was on her way to visit Swarowski. Willy kept
telling her that she was made to be a psychiatrist and that she couldn’t leave him. This dual
appeal to the woman he cared for was to recur throughout Reich’s life: Be with me and do