Bobby Fischer’s Last Words
This article about Bobby Fischer in the timesonline is interesting, about a bunch of people who are squabbling over his estate, including one woman who claims her child is also Bobby Fischer’s daughter. I found the most interesting parts were some quotes from Bobby’s friend/psychiatrist Magnus Skulason:
“I never asked him questions about himself, you must understand. He became very irritated if you did that,� Skulason begins tentatively. “But he once asked me about the origins of psychiatric illness. I think he realised there was something missing in himself. In a way he was searching like a young boy, still trying to understand himself and the world.�
“He told me he kept having the same dream. But he never wanted to talk about it. It seemed memories were trying to come out,� says the psychiatrist.
“I don’t believe Bobby was badly treated as a boy. But he was lonely. He missed having a father, and his mother was often outside the home.�
“Without basic trust, a person relies far too much on such primitive defences as building walls, blaming others and projecting negative feelings onto them.� Fischer himself once said of his aggression: “Those who don’t have fathers become like wolves.�
His last words were: “Nothing is as healing as the human touch.”
