Abstract

I will argue in this paper that it is possible to reconstruct the events that preceded D.P. Schreber's second nervous breakdown on the basis of chapter eight of his Memoirs of My Nervous Illness. This argument is a contribution to the debate on the etiology of Schreber's illness. It runs in parallel and in support to the studies that emphasize the role of institutional psychiatry (see Lothane) and a power crisis (e.g. Santer) in manufacturing Schreber's illness, and deemphasize Freud's and Niederland's Oedipal interpretations, along the lines of Deleuze and Guattari. I will draw on the ideas of Derrida and Lacan (via Winnicott) to justify the possibility and the reconstruction of the events in the office of the presiding judge, in order to fill the gap in the factual information related to Schreber's employment in 1893. Although Schreber indicates that the cause of his illness is intimately related to his new position, he does not offer much support to this claim. Still, this study takes Schreber's claim seriously and suggests that despite the absence of a narrative of his presidency, its details come to surface in the context of his transfer to Pierson's asylum.