The novel is about a young archaeologist, Norbert Hanold, who comes to realize his love for his childhood friend through a long and complex process, mainly by associating her with an idealized woman in the form of the Gradiva bas-relief.
Freud considered the novel as providing a prime example of 'something which might be called "cure by seduction" or "cure by love"', as well as evidence 'that the Oedipus complex is still active in normal adults, too'.
"Wilhelm Jensen has given us an absolutely correct study in psychiatry, in which we may measure our understanding of psychic life, a story of illness and cure adapted to the inculcation of certain fundamental teachings of medical psychology."
— Sigmund Freud
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