ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates how the discourse on hypnotism at the fin de sicle was actually a blend of ideas about mesmerisms supernatural powers and hypnotisms practical purpose in the field of psychology, developing in the 1880s and 1890s. Itexplores not only the blurring of the boundaries between mental science and the supernatural in discussions of hypnotism, but also the blurring of sites of power in both mesmerism and hypnotism. The chapterexplainsthe radical re-examination of our understanding of the power dynamic in mesmerism and hypnotism as it was written about in the Victorian period. It demonstrates the dynamic interchange of power between Trilby and Svengali during scenes of mesmerism and hypnotism, and to discuss how, in its popularity, Trilby mesmerized its audiences. Finally, the chapter suggests that the Gothic fear articulated in trance-texts was the dangerous merging of identities and powers in scenes of mesmerism and hypnotism.
