A woman who walks. That’s what Gradiva (the name of an anonymous woman from an antique bas-relief) means, as given by a fictional character from a novella by Wilhelm Jensen. In other words, it’s an invented name for an unknown woman in stone. However, because of Freud, the figure has become a myth in her own right.
What is the plot of the novel Gradiva?
The novel starts like a fantasy, wherein are woven the dreams of the hero and his restless journey to Pompeii to resurrect a childhood love for Zoe Bertgang, who lived just across his house in his native town in Germany Gradiva is a novel about a childhood love excavated by Norbert Hanold from the ashes of the buried ruins of Pompeii.
Where did Jensen’s Gradiva get its inspiration?
It was inspired by a Roman bas-relief of the same name and became the basis for Sigmund Freud ‘s famous 1907 study Delusion and Dream in Jensen’s Gradiva ( German: “Der Wahn und die Träume in W. Jensen’s Gradiva” ).
Why is Gradiva the muse of surrealism?
Nadeau Maurice wrote in A History of Surrealism in 1965 that Gradiva ‘the woman who walks through walls’ was the muse of the Surrealists. This is because she was a character on the verge of mythology, dream, and psychoanalysis. Therefore she was a perfect fit for all those exploring the subconscious and fantasy, especially the sexual fantasy.
