A History of the Case Study: Sexology, Psychoanalysis, Literature

(Hardback)

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This collection tells the story of the case study genre at a time when it became the genre par excellence for discussing human sexuality across the humanities and life sciences.It is a transcontinental journey from the imperial world of fin-de-siecle Central Europe to the interwar metropolises of Weimar Germany and to the United States of America in the post-war years. Foregrounding the figures of case study pioneers, and highlighting their often radical engagements with the genre, the book scrutinises the case writing practices of Sigmund Freud and his predecessor sexologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing; writers including Leopold von Sacher-Masoch and Alfred Doeblin; Weimar intellectuals such as Erich Wulffen and psychoanalyst Viola Bernard. The results are important new insights into the continuing legacy of such writers and into the agency increasingly claimed by the readerships that emerged with the development of modernity. -- .

Reviews

A valuable introduction to some lesser-known writers and doctors, and offers tantalising glimpses into national differences within those disciplines that use the case study, and within their historiographies. It is also a useful entry point for those interested in histories of sexology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis or criminology, but unfamiliar with the rich literary world that has surrounded and helped to shape these fields.
Janet Weston, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Social History of Medicine, vol 33, no 3, August 2018

Author Bio

Birgit Lang is Associate Professor of German at The University of Melbourne

Joy Damousi is ARC Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Fellow and Professor of History at The University of Melbourne

Alison Lewis is Professor of German at The University of Melbourne