The aim of this paper is to bring to the fore how a talented writer is able to describe everyday human relationships in a way that makes visible their most central, underlying dynamics. After reviewing some of the psychoanalytic literature, the author presents a collection of short stories by the Norwegian author, Kjell Askildsen. These works illustrate how the fear of incest, sado-masochistic, exhibitionistic, and addictive defenses can play the rôle of “directors” of human dramas. Askildsen, with relentless accuracy, decribes a longing for reciprocity and defences against it. In such a conflict, reciprocity is felt dangerous and only momentarily fulfilled, and defences are necessary.