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Freud, "Aetiology of Hysteria"

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1) Rachel P. Maines, The Technology of Orgasm (2001): Study of how "vibrator" developed as a treatment for female hysteria. Presupposition: hysteria as illness based on the "blockage" of certain fluids released upon orgasm; treatment as physically instigating orgasm in order to break through this "blockage" and initiate healthy "flow" of fluids. (Fluidal theory! The "humors," black bile, phlegm, blood, etc.) 2) Sarah Ruhl, In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play: Drama based on Maines's book: Dr. Givings (note play on name!) treats neurotic patient, Mrs. Daldry, in his clinic, while his wife, "in the next room," overhears the sounds of treatment. In one scene, she begs her husband to conduct his experiments on her; but he refuses. Critique of Victorian society, its secretiveness about sexuality (the bourgeois women must ask the lower-class wet nurse about the meaning of "orgasm"), the "knowledge" attained by men, and their inability to translate this knowledge into adequate social pract

Freud, "Aetiology of Hysteria" R. Gray German 390/Comp. Lit. 396/Engl 363/CHID 498/JSIS 488/Lit 298 "Freud and the Literary Imagination" Lecture Notes: Freud, "Aetiology of Hysteria" (1896) Preliminary Reflections: Contemporary investigations into the theory and treatment of hysteria: 1) Rachel P. Maines, The Technology of Orgasm (2001): Study of how "vibrator" developed as a treatment for female hysteria. Presupposition: hysteria as illness based on the "blockage" of certain fluids released upon orgasm; treatment as physically instigating orgasm in order to break through this "blockage" and i

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