What is hysteria? Despite the numerous publications on the subject, this question is surprisingly difficult to answer. In its simplest form, hysteria is the physical manifestation of a psychological trauma; a patient might lose her voice, yet, there is nothing in her larynx that points to a possible cause. Hysteria is of historical significance, of social importance, and of cultural relevance. It has inspired numerous works of art, visual, written, on the screen and the stage, some of which we will invite into our pages. It is important to note that a common element to all these contexts and uses of hysteria is its designation as a disease, an affliction. Elaine Showalter refers to hysteria as a disorder which ‘mimics culturally permissible expressions of distress’. Augustine, Jean Martin Charcot’s star patient, and Dora, Freud’s most famous case history, remain a current example of the binding of hysteria and culture, as Dianne Hunter, Hélène Cixous, Claire Pajaczkowska and Sharon Kivland’s responses show.

But our purpose goes beyond surveying cultural manifestations of the concept. We want to assess the condition of hysteria as malady, and to see whether it is a disorder of the mind, or of the context in which it appears. We also ask whether hysteria is a category that needs to be recovered. In order to do this, we consider ways to express hysteria through text, through the speech of the hysteric. As you will see, this speech, and the hysteric’s question – Che Vuoi?, what do you want from me? ¬– are epistemological concerns of importance.