Matrix Of Hysteria

Nitza Yarom looks at psychoanalysis in many different ways.

The current diversity in psychoanalytic theories of hysteria has confused our understanding of the concept. ""Matrix of Hysteria"" offers a new perspective, which draws on previous theories to present a clear and cohesive view of the theoretical and clinical aspects of hysteria. Drawing on extensive experience in analytic work, supervision and teaching, Nitza Yarom employs clinical vignettes to offer the reader an illuminating account of this subject. The book is divided into two sections, covering clinical and theoretical issues and including discussion of subjects such as: Oedipus, Sexuality.

We seem to be living in hysterical times. A simple Google search reveals the sheer bottomless well of “hysterical” discussions on diverse topics such as the #metoo movement, Trumpianism, border wars, Brexit, transgender liberation, Black Lives Matter, COVID-19, and climate change, to name only a few. Against the backdrop of such recent deployments of hysteria in popular discourse––particularly as they emerge in times of material and hermeneutic crisis––Performing Hysteria re-engages the notion of “hysteria”. Performing Hysteria rigorously mines late 20th- and early 21st-century (primarily visual) culture for signs of hysteria. The various essays in this volume contribute to the multilayered and complex discussions that surround and foster this resurgent interest in hysteria––covering such areas as art, literature, theatre, film, television, dance; crossing such disciplines as cultural studies, political science, philosophy, history, media, disability, race and ethnicity, and gender studies; and analysing stereotypical images and representations of the hysteric in relation to cultural sciences and media studies. Of particular importance is the volume's insistence on taking the intersection of hysteria and performance seriously.

Hysteria is alive and well in our present time and is apparently spreading contagiously: especially the second decade of the twenty-first century has displayed an ever-increasing interest in the term. A quick Google search opens the gates to sheer endless swathes of discussions on hysteria, covering almost every aspect of public discourses. The arts—as it is often in such cases—seem conspicuously involved in and engaged with this hysterical discourse. Surprisingly, while the strong academic interest in hysteria throughout the twentieth century and most prominently at the turn of the century is well known and much discussed, the study of how these discourses have continued well into twenty-first-century art practices, is largely pressing on a blind spot. It is the aim of this volume to illustrate how hysteria was already well established within the arts alongside and at times even separately from the much-covered medical studies, and reveal how those current artistic practices very much continue a century spanning cross-fertilization between hysteria and the arts.

Examining historical, clinical and artistic material, in both written and visual form, this book traces the figure of the contemporary hysteric as she rebels against the impossible demands made upon her. Exploring five traits that commonly characterise the hysteric as an archetype – a specific body, mimetic abilities, a shroud of mystery, a propensity to disappear and a particular relationship to voice – the authors shed light on what it means to be hysterical, as a form of rebellion and resistance. This is important reading for scholars of sociology, gender studies, cultural studies and visual studies with interests in psychoanalysis, art and the characterisation of mental illness.

In Precocious Charms, Gaylyn Studlar examines how Hollywood presented female stars as young girls or girls on the verge of becoming women. Child stars are part of this study but so too are adult actresses who created motion picture masquerades of youthfulness. Studlar details how Mary Pickford, Shirley Temple, Deanna Durbin, Elizabeth Taylor, Jennifer Jones, and Audrey Hepburn performed girlhood in their films. She charts the multifaceted processes that linked their juvenated star personas to a wide variety of cultural influences, ranging from Victorian sentimental art to New Look fashion, from nineteenth-century children’s literature to post-World War II sexology, and from grand opera to 1930s radio comedy. By moving beyond the general category of "woman," Precocious Charms leads to a new understanding of the complex pleasures Hollywood created for its audience during the half century when film stars were a major influence on America’s cultural imagination.

This exciting 1995 collection of essays explores the inter-relationship of gender and war in Australia. Its focus is women's and men's experiences in WWI, WWII and the Vietnam War. Challenging the traditional images of men and women in wartime, this book shows that war offers opportunities that erode gender boundaries.

This book presents a Lacanian perspective on the understanding and treatment of anorexia, supported by case material, research and theoretical insight from the author’s 25 years of clinical practice. Domenico Cosenza explains how anorexia constitutes a challenge for contemporary psychoanalytic clinicians, assesses previous theoretical understandings and examines clinical contributions from other schools of psychoanalysis. Cosenza argues that anorexia cannot be treated by following a classical psychoanalytic path, and here draws on numerous clinical cases to articulate a Lacanian approach which addresses core concerns not resolved elsewhere. Elaborating on Lacanian concepts including refusal and the object nothing, Cosenza offers a new approach for all psychoanalytically-informed clinicians working with anorexia. A Lacanian Reading of Anorexia will be of great interest to psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and psychotherapists interested in Lacanian perspectives and the dynamic-analytical approach in the treatment of anorexia.