Hysteria Complicated by Ecstasy: The Case of Nanette Leroux »

Jan Goldstein is the Norman and Edna Freehling Professor of History at the University of Chicago. Her books include "The Post-Revolutionary Self: Politics and Psyche in France, 1750-1850" and "Console and Classify: The French Psychiatric Profession in the Nineteenth Century".

"This book is a tour de force of analysis and contextualization. Investigating a set of curative procedures derived from popular culture and medical science on behalf of a young peasant girl locked in the grip of a frequently immobilizing illness, Goldstein successfully casts light on the state of medicine, the condition of women and gender relations, and the society and culture of the Savoie region in the Restoration era."—Robert A. Nye, Oregon State University

"Goldstein's historical presentation is expertly done, creating a vivid picture of the important elements in Nanette Leroux's life and in the lives of those with whom she interacted. This historical polyphony is at once intriguing, instructive, original, and deeply satisfying, especially in the way it amalgamates readings of women's mental afflictions over the course of two centuries."—Bonnie G. Smith, Rutgers University

List of Illustrations

Pt. 1 Hysteria Complicated By Ecstasy: Sexuality, Time, and Commodities in the Malady of Nanette Leroux

Ch. 1 Preliminaries 3

The Authors of the Case: An Inbuilt Polyphony 6

The Plot Summary 11

Ch. 2 Contexts 18

Contexts: What They Do for the Reader, and How Many Are Enough 18

Savoy: Old Regime, Revolution, and Piedmontese Restoration 20

The Spa: A Characteristically Nineteenth-Century Setting 55

Commodities and Consumer Culture 42

Diagnostics: Catalepsy and Hysteria circa 1820 46

Medicine and Science as Public Spectacle 56

The Local Scientific Public Sphere 64

Scientific Networks, or How Despine Found Bertrand 65

Religion in Savoy and in the Leroux Case 69

Defiant Women: Despine's Chagrins Domestiques 73

Ch. 3 Making Sense of the Case 83

The Authors' Understanding of the Case 83

A Twenty-First-Century Interpretation of the Case 94

Ch. 4 Textual Matters 128

Nanette Leroux or "Nanette Leroux": The Issue of Pseudonyms 128

Palimpsest and Polyphony: The State of the Manuscript 129

Choosing a Text for Translation 133

Pt. 2 The Text of the Case History Observations of Nanette Leroux: Hysteria Complicated by Ecstasy 137

Appendix On the Compatibility of Foucauldian and Freudian Approaches 201

Notes 205

Index 239\