Abstract: Chapter 2 The Case Study Andrew Webber, Andrew WebberSearch for more papers by this author Andrew Webber, Andrew WebberSearch for more papers by this author Book Editor(s):Laura Marcus, Laura MarcusSearch for more papers by this authorAnkhi Mukherjee, Ankhi MukherjeeSearch for more papers by this author First published: 04 April 2014 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118610169.ch2 AboutPDFPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShareShare a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Summary This chapter considers the form and function of Freud's case studies in relation to narrative fiction, and in particular the novella, to which he feels compelled to compare them. What the two genres share is a paradoxical combination of the exemplary, as a normative category, and the exceptional, as that which exceeds or scandalizes the norm. Just as cases function in psychoanalysis and other systems of thought as compromises between the individual and the general, so too do the fictional cases of the novella tradition. This affinity between psychoanalysis and literature is explored here through the case study in which Freud most closely analyzes a fictional text: Delusion and Dreams in Wilhelm Jensen's "Gradiva" (1907). Freud's model of identification as working through what he calls the "singular trait" is a particular focus for the analysis, as is the transferential investment that the psychoanalytic reader has in the singular traits of his case text and of its protagonist. References Caruth, Cathy. 1996. Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 10.1353/book.20656 Google Scholar Derrida, Jacques. 1996. Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar Downing, Eric. 2006. After Images: Photography, Archaeology and Psychoanalysis and the Tradition of Bildung. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. Google Scholar Freud, Sigmund. 1953–74. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, 24 vols., ed. James Strachey, with the assistance of Anna Freud, Alix Strachey, and Alan Tyson, trans. James Strachey. London: Hogarth Press. Google Scholar Freud, Sigmund. 1999. Gesammelte Werke, 18 vols. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer. Google Scholar Jensen, Wilhelm. 1993. "Gradiva" by Wilhelm Jensen and "Delusion and Dream in Wilhelm Jensen's 'Gradiva'" by Sigmund Freud , trans. Helen M. Downey. Los Angeles: Sun and Moon Press. Google Scholar Kofman, Sarah. 1991. Freud and Fiction, trans. Sarah Wykes. Cambridge: Polity. Google Scholar Lacan, Jacques. 1962. The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book IX: Identification 1961–1962, trans. Cormac Gallagher. http://www.valas.fr/IMG/pdf/THE-SEMINAR-OF-JACQUES-LACAN-IX_identification.pdf. Accessed November 30, 2013. Google Scholar Rand, Nicholas, and Maria Torok. 1997. Questions for Freud: The Secret History of Psychoanalysis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Google Scholar Timms, Edward. 1983. "Novelle and Case History: Freud in Pursuit of the Falcon." London German Studies, 2: 115–34. Google Scholar Webber, Andrew. 1990. Sexuality and the Sense of Self in the Works of Georg Trakl and Robert Musil. London: MHRA. Google Scholar Webber, Andrew. 1996. The Doppelgänger: Double Visions in German Literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159049.001.0001 Google Scholar Weber, Samuel. 2009. "Between Part and Whole: Benjamin and the Single Trait." Paragraph, 32, no. 3: 382–99. 10.3366/E0264833409000650 Web of Science®Google Scholar A Concise Companion to Psychoanalysis, Literature, and Culture ReferencesRelatedInformation
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-04-04
Language: en
Type: other
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 18
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