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Linguistic, semiotic, and structural interpretations of the narrative text of Dora's first dream point to the related themes of incest, taboo, exchange of women, and seduction. An analogy is drawn between Freud's case and Lévi-Strauss's analysis of the incest taboo, exchange of women, and rules of kinship and marriage in traditional societies. The presence of these related principles in the Dora case suggests that these principles are universal and are not limited to traditional, small-scale societies. The present essay further suggests another possibility for Freud's choice of the name “Dora” for Ida Bauer: “Dora” means “gift” in Greek. The meaning of the name is consistent with the dominant themes of the case.
D. Banks is a Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Acknowledgments. I wish to thank two anonymous reviewers and John Ingham and David Lipset of the Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, for their comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this paper. Orlo Otteson and Lynn Schelitzche helped immeasurably with editing and typing the manuscript.
In light of these structural principles inherent in the text of Dora's first dream, in her family's relationships with the K's, and implied in Freud's choice of a name for Ida Bauer, Freud's view that Dora should give herself to Herr K—the subject of continuing controversy and debate—is perhaps understandable, although not necessarily acceptable. The structural principles inherent in the case remained inchoate in Freud's own interpretation because of unrecognized countertransference and have been confounded by Freud's critics with related but ultimately separate normative elements.