Translating Gradiva: Research Notes

In one of the fragments of the lover’s discourse translated by Timothy Matthews in this volume Barthes considers the figure of Gradiva, from Jensen’s tale, engaging thereby with Freud’s essay on ‘Delusions and Dreams in Jensen’s Gradiva’. Gradiva is a figure of a happy outcome, whereby Zoe Bertgang ‘gently’ eases Norbert Hanold out of the psychotic delusion of his amorous fascination. But these dynamics are not as straightforward as they seem; if, as Barthes suggests, the madness of love is all-encompassing, total, what are we to make of Zoe’s devotion, since she splits herself, between Gradiva and Zoe. This paradoxical tension, between loving and being in love, generates further aporia and tension in the translations enacted across the texts of Barthes, Jensen and Freud. These ‘research notes’ on Gradiva enumerate multiple indices of the ‘Gradiva dossier’, opened by Barthes.