Saxa loquuntur! Freud's archaeology of hysteria

Abstract

ABSTRACT As one asks for a foundation of psychoanalysis and media archaeology, all paths lead back to Sigmund Freud. In addition to founding psychoanalysis as an “archaeology of the soul,” his remarkable endeavor also gave rise to the foundation of contemporary media archaeology, which depends on a long prehistory of archaeological models itself. In order not to mistake these models as mere metaphors, which Freudian research has done for the longest time, it is important to examine Freud's vivid correspondence and information politics with archaeology proper: Because Freud was an archaeological amateur and enthusiast, it is indeed possible to trace model-making archaeological passages in some of his most famous writings back to archaeological situations and “writing scenes.” The most important among these seems to be Freud's exchange with his friend of youth, Emmanuel Löwy (himself an archaeologist). Löwy sent his archaeological findings back to Freud, who then transformed them immediately into psychoanalytical models: This is how Freud's “archaeology of the soul” was directly informed by archaeology proper, and how it informs our current media archaeology.