Hysteria: Physical Presence and Juridical Absence & AIDS: Physical Absence and Juridical Presence

Abstract

In the essay the authoress examines the terms »presence« and its counterpart »absence« and approaches these binary terms within the discursive contexts and representational systems of the 19th and 20th century. To grasp the »politics of representation« of presence/absence she relates it to the discursive contexts and representational systems of two illnesses: hysteria and AIDS, each of these representing the illness par excellence of a specific century. In her view these illnesses function not only in relation to the duality of presence and absence, but also through specific ways of representational politics.