Delusion and Dream

Delusion and Dream in Jensen’s Gradiva (Ger­man: Der Wahn und die Träume in W. Jensens “Gra­diva”) is an essay written in 1907 by Sigmund Freud that subjects the novel Gradiva by Wilhelm Jensen, and especially its protagonist, to psychoanalysis.

The novel is about a young archaeologist, Nor­bert Hanold, who comes to realize his love for his childhood friend through a long and complex pro­cess, mainly by associating her with an ideali­zed woman in the form of the Gradiva bas-relief.

Freud considered the novel as providing a prime example of ‘something which might be called “cure by seduction” or “cure by love”’, as well as evidence ‘that the Oedipus complex is still active in normal adults, too’