Hysterie und Zaubertränke: Hofmannsthals Ägyptische Helena als Therapiegeschichte

Author

Raphael Johannes Mueller, University of Tennessee, KnoxvilleFollow

Date of Award

8-2017

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

German

Major Professor

Adrian Del Caro

Committee Members

Sarah V. Eldridge, Stefanie Ohnesorg

Abstract

In this thesis, Die ägyptische Helena by Hugo von Hofmannsthal is read as the story of the healing process of the main character Menelas. The main hypothesis states that Hofmannsthal designed the mental disease of Menelas according to the theory of hysteria that Josef Breuer and Sigmund Freud described in their Studies on Hysteria (Studien über Hysterie, published in 1895). In the treatment of Menelas’ disease, magic potions play a crucial role. The thesis argues that although those potions are similar to psychotropic drugs, Hofmannsthal refers much more to the potions in Richard Wagner’s operas Tristan und Isolde (1865) and Götterdämmerung (1876) than to drugs that were discussed in the contemporary psychiatric discourse.

Recommended Citation

Mueller, Raphael Johannes, "Hysterie und Zaubertränke: Hofmannsthals Ägyptische Helena als Therapiegeschichte. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2017.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/4894