The Romantic and Modern Practice of Animal Magnetism: Friedrich Schlegei's Protocols ofthe Magnetic Treatment of Countess Lesniowska

Eor six years, Eriedrich Schlegel kept a diary of the magnetism therapy of his friend the Countess Eranziska Lesniowska. The Countess's illness was marked by repetitive symptoms often related to memories of past events; she experienced phenomena similar to what Ereud later called the uncanny retum of repressed content. However, Schlegel believed she was clairvoyant and that her symptoms were incomplete expressions of a beautiful future. An examination of the diary reveals that the esoteric interests that marked Schlegel's late phase were more significant than generally acknowledged and that his interest in magnetism illuminates an aesthetic aspect of the history of psychoanalysis. (LJ)