Abby and Patrick take up Josef Breuer’s final contribution to the Studies on Hysteria. The second-last-chapter of the Studies, this lengthy “Theoretical” essay is generally viewed by commentators as holding only historical interest. Yet it crystallizes the clinical preoccupations, philosophical questions, and favorite metaphors that Freud and Breuer shared – from recurrent analogies to state-of-the-art technologies (IE, electricity and telephones) to the relationship between ideas, the body, and states of consciousness. Moreover, as Abby and Patrick explain, this essay not only puts the character of Freud’s originality in context, but also showcases Breuer at his most sympathetic, including some striking reflections on Victorian sexual mores, trauma, and more.
References:
Gabriel Brownstein, The Secret Mind of Bertha Pappenheim
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