This essay addresses the American term romance, or passion, so as to reflect on the reasons for its fading in a long-standing relationship. It is suggested that passion is overcoming: excitement is linked to a kind of “oedipal triumph” over internalized parents, incorporated in a prohibiting superego. In a somewhat analogous manner, bodily pleasures become revitalized and resuscitated by breaking the barriers erected around them by “forgetting,” the oblivion that grows with development and socialization.

“Unforgetting” is a complex process, deeply involved with the vicissitudes of inner objects, or structures, which can be achieved during a couple's romance as a narrative over time.