Traces of hysteria in novels

There have been many descriptions of presumed 'hysterics' in fiction, many appearing in French literature, but also in a number of other languages. It is clear that contemporary medical ideas and insights about hysteria had a major influence on its depiction in novels. This is particularly true for naturalistic literature, which has been the subject of previous reviews. Here, we focus on a more recent novel: Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks (2005). What is special about the depiction of hysteria in this work is that the presumed 'hysteric' turns out not to be hysteric at all. In the novel, as well as in this chapter, the diagnosis of hysteria is discussed in the light of theories about hysteria of around 1900. For comparison, we present some examples of true 'hysterics' as they occur in fiction. Since it has become clear that severe nonpsychiatric diseases such as an ovarian teratoma can lead to bizarre phenotypes, the association of 'hysteria' with the womb has to be seen in another light.