Freud's Rat Man and the Case Study: Genre in Three Keys

“Freud’s Rat Man and the Case Study: Genre in Three Keys” analyses the Rat Man case in terms of literary, sociolinguistic, and rhetoric genre theories, focusing on his use temporality and quotation to create the institutional setting in which the case is read. Freud’s case is then contrasted with a contemporary psychiatric case study, in which clinical and institutional discourses are juxtaposed. The essay argues for a productive dialogue among literary, sociological, and rhetorical approaches to genre.