On the narratives' credibility concerning the disease and the fatal end in Fräulein Else and Effi Briest

The turn of the 20 th century was the time when the world witnessed the birth of psychoanalysis and when the psyche gained centre stage. The literature of the time was closely linked to the development of this emerging scholarly discourse, for the men of letters seemed to understand the human emotional life considerably better than medical scholars; hence, Freud, besides pursuing medical approaches, resorted to literature to originate his theory of the human mind. This paper works in the reverse direction and aims to scrutinize the narrative of (mental) disease that is woven around the female protagonists; as Schnitzler‟s “Fraulein Else” is considered a textbook representation of the contemporary medical views on female hysteria and Fontane‟s “Effi Briest” features subtle indications of hysteria. The narratives of disease in both texts include implausible elements and appear unreliable; and this question of credibility is the object of research. The findings are a subtle social critique in Effi's case and mirror an incredible reality with “Fraulein Else”.