Publisher Description:
Delusion and Dream in Jensen's GradivaAn Awesome Book On Eplaining The Psychoanalysis Of DreamsThe basic tenets of psychoanalysis include: - a person's development is determined by often forgotten events in early childhood rather than by inherited traits alone.
- human attitude, mannerism, experience, and thought is largely influenced by irrational drives that are rooted in the unconscious
- it is necessary to bypass psychological resistance in the form of defense mechanisms when bringing drives into awareness
- conflicts between the conscious and the unconscious, or with repressed material can materialize in the form of mental or emotional disturbances, for example: neurosis, neurotic traits, anxiety, depression etc.
- liberating the elements of the unconscious is achieved through bringing this material into the conscious mind (via e.g. skilled guidance, i.e. therapeutic intervention).
Analysis Of The TextAn isolated, unworldly individual, Hanold has 'repressed the memory of a girl, Zo Bertgang, with whom he has grown up and to whom he had been affectionately attached'; but is unconsciously reminded of her by 'a bas-relief depicting a young, lovely woman with a distinctive gait. He calls her "Gradiva," which means "the woman who steps along"' After a dream about "Gradiva" and the destruction of Pompeii, Hanold 'leaves for Pompeii, where he meets a young woman, very much alive, whom he takes for Gradiva. In the course of the meetings that follow, he organizes his mania, stalking and interpreting signs (Gradiva appears at noon, the ghost hour, and the like). "Gradiva" seeks to cure him by gradually revealing her identity to him. The woman is of course Hanold's childhood sweetheart, Zo ; and 'fortunately his "Gradiva" is as shrewd as she is beautiful. Zo , the "source" of his malaise, also becomes the agent of its resolution; recognizing Hanold's delusions for what they are, she restores him to sanity, disentangling his fantasies from reality'- it 'is only Zo who can tell him that his archeological interest is sublimated desire for her'. With respect to 'the final paragraph, in which Jensen has Hanold asking Zo to walk ahead of him and she complies with a smile, Freud put, "Erotic...foot interest"'...By walking ahead of him in imitation of "Gradiva" on the plaque, she finds the key to his therapy'. |
