Abstract

The title essay of this volume is a study of Wilhelm Jensen's Gradiva: a Pompeiian Fancy, the text of which is printed as an appendix. Three other very brief essays by Freud on related topics are included. In his introduction, Philip Rieff shows that Freud "looked not for evidence but for meaning" and this helps us to understand how a fictional character could as legitimately serve his purposes as an actual case history.--D. R.