Using two formats of the pubertary pictogram (infantile control and pubertary elaboration), it is possible to make a clearer distinction between passion and love. Passion is characterized by a double play of abuse of phallic power to the detriment of the new sexual and, in turn, “breakdown”. Love is a special instance of the intersubjectalisation necessary for adolescent creativity. At the frontier between these states, passion can be loving and love can be passionate. Two clinical examples will be taken from the novels of Hungarian author Sandor Márai.

Adolescence, 2015, 33, 1, 33-45.