Charcot's Theater of Hysteria: Women on the "Border (s)" of a Nervous Breakdown

蘇子中(Tsu-Chung Su)

hysteria ； Charcot ； neurology ； Freud ； psychoanalysis

小說與戲劇

19卷2期（2009 / 10 / 01）

1 - 24

英文

The modern medical history of hysteria begins with Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) and his clinic-theatre in the Paris hospital La Salpêtrière. In this paper, I intend to explore the idea that Charcot transformed the Salpêtrière not just into ”a living pathological museum,” as he himself called it, but also into a ”theater of hysteria.” The career of Charcot is of monumental importance in the theatricalization of hysteria and the Salpêtrière clinic was organized primarily around the visual, photographic, theatrical, and spectacular. Moreover, Charcot's theater of hysteria was a ”theater of borders,” one that crossed borders while also remaining ”on” the ”border (s)” of a nervous breakdown, and specifically women's nervous breakdown. My purpose in this project is to explore the borders that Charcot's theater of hysteria borders on and crosses over. First I propose discussing Charcot's theater of hysteria in terms of its histrionics and theatricality. Then I explore the borders of representation, of sexuality, and of the Charcotian neurological theater of hysteria and the Freudian psychoanalytic interpretation of hysteria. These borders intertwine, and together constitute the theatricality of hysteria and institute the ”hysterical” paradigm shift that became evident during the fin-de-siècle period. At the crossroads of these borders, hysteria has achieved a unique reputation among psychosomatic disorders as a mysterious, elusive, and borderline neurosis.

1. “Histrionics.” The Free Dictionary. 2009. Farlex, Inc. 12 March 2009 .
2. “Theatricality.” The Free Dictionary. 2009. Farlex, Inc. 12 March 2009
3. Munthe, Axel. The Story of San Michele. London: John Murray, 1929.
4. Bronfen, Elisabeth(1998).The Knotted Subject: Hysteria and Its Discontents.Princeton:Princeton UP.
5. Didi-Huberman, Georges(1982).Invention de L'Hystérie: Charcot et L'Iconographie Photographique de la Salpêtrière.Paris:Macula.
6. Eissler, Kurt(1953).The Effect of the Structure of the Ego in Psychoanalytic Technique.Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association,1,104-43.
7. Evans, Martha Noel(1991).Fits and Starts: A Genealogy of Hysteria in Modern France.Ithaca:Cornell UP.
8. Foucault, Michel,Hurley, Robert(Trans.)(1980).The History of Sexuality: Volume I.New York:Vintage.
9. Freud, Sigmund(1995).Standard Edition of The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.London:Hogarth P.
10. Freud, Sigmund(1995).Standard Edition of The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.London:Hogarth P.
11. Gilman, Sander(Ed.),King, Helen(Ed.),Porter, Roy(Ed.),Rousseau, G. S.(Ed.),Showalter, Elaine(Ed.)(1993).Hysteria beyond Freud.Berkeley:U of California P.
12. Girard, René(1978)."To Double Business Bound": Essays on Literature, Mimesis, and Anthropology.Baltimore:Johns Hopkins UP.
13. Goetz, Christopher G.,Bonduelle, Michel,Gelfand, Toby(1995).Charcot: Constructing Neurology.New York:Oxford UP.
14. Goldstein, Jan(1987).Console and Classify: The French Psychiatric Profession in the Nineteenth Century.New York:Cambridge UP.
15. Gullain, Georges,Bailey, Pearce(Ed. trans.)(1959).J.-M. Charcot, 1825-1893: His Life-His Work.London:Pitman Medical.
16. Harris, Ruth(1989).Murders and Madness: Medicine, Law, and Society in the Fin de Siècle.Oxford:Clarendon.
17. Harris, Ruth(Ed.)(1991).Clinical Lectures on Diseases of the Nervous System.London:Routledge.
18. Mazzoni, Cristina(1996).Saint Hysteria: Neurosis, Mysticism, and Gender in European Culture.Ithaca:Cornell UP.
19. Micale, Mark(1990).Charcot and the Idea of Hysteria in the Male: Gender, MentalScience, and Medical Diagnosis in Late Nineteenth-Century France.Medical History,34(4),363-411.
20. Shorter, Edward(1992).From Paralysis to Fatigue: A History of Psychosomatic Illness in the Modern Era.New York:The Free P.
21. Showalter, Elaine(1997).Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Media.New York:Columbia UP.
22. Showalter, Elaine(1985).The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980.New York:Pantheon.
23. Slavney, Philip R.(1990).Perspectives on "Hysteria.".Baltimore:Johns Hopkins UP.
24. Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll(1985).Disorderly Conduct: Visions of Gender in Victorian America.New York:Alfred A. Knopf.

1. 汪詩珮(2014)。經典、重詮、男戲：「1/2Q劇場」的蹊徑與意境。戲劇研究，14，103-150。