The Domestic Economy of the Soul

Book excerpt: This is the first major analysis of Freud's five celebrated five case studies of Little Hans, Dora, the Rat Man, the Wolf Man and Schreber. O'Neill sets out the details of each case and critically engages with the narratives using a mixture of psychoanalytical insight and social theory. The book provides a clear and powerful account of the five major case studies that helped to establish the Freud legend; situates the cases and the analysis into the appropriate social and historical contexts; offers distinctive interpretations of the symptomatic body, of illness as a language, dream work and the Madonna complex; and challenges us to revisit the canonical texts of psychoanalysis. The book will be of interest to students of psychoanalysis, social theory and sociology.