Freud by Numbers? – Hysteria and Transgenerational Haunting in Patrick McGrath’s Constance (2013)

Abstract

AbstractThis article investigates the literary technique with which Patrick McGrath opposes two narrators and illustrates how the subtle story of one of them, Constance, deconstructs the apparently dominant discourse of the second narrator, Sidney. This article furthermore refutes the current critical interpretation of Constance as a hysteric and demonstrates that it is Sidney who deliberately constructs this notion of hysteria and who himself – paradoxically – can be linked to Histrionic Personality Disorder. This article finally explores how Constance experiences what Abraham and Torok called transgenerational haunting and how this psychoanalytic theory is reinforced and commented upon by a series of metaphors.