Includes bibliographical references (pages 451-466) and index
pt. 1. The hysterical subject of theory. Navel inversions -- The navel of Sigmund Freud's inaugural dream
pt. 2. History's hysterias. Medicine's hysteria romance : is it history or legend? -- Gothic hysterics : Ann Radcliffe's The romance of the forest -- Jean-Martin Charcot's Vampires
pt. 3. Hysteria's case histories. Turnings of nostalgia : Sigmund Freud, Karl Jaspers, Pierre Janet -- Anne Sexton's Business of writing suicide -- "You Freud, me Jane" : Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie, the case history revisited
pt. 4. Performing hysteria. A womb of one's own, or the strange case of David Cronenberg -- Beyond hysteria : Cindy Sherman's private theater of horror