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.

[1] An isolated, unworldly individual, Hanold has 'repressed the memory of a girl, Zoë Bertgang, with whom he has grown up and to whom he had been affectionately attached'; but is unconsciously reminded of her by 'a bas-relief depicting a young, lovely woman with a distinctive gait.

[4] Post-Freudians vary widely on whether Hanold suffers from neurosis or psychosis, some emphasizing 'the way Freud offers psychoanalysts a model which shows "how to address the 'mad' part of our patients without neglecting the rest of their person"'.

[6] Poststructuralist philosopher Jacques Derrida references Freud's use of Jensen's Gradiva in his own book-length essay Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression (1995).

Oliver Aoun’s 2012 project Lisa Rediviva engages with Freud’s analysis of Jensen’s Gradiva, reinterpreting historical and symbolic figures through contemporary art practices.

Luis Buñuel’s surrealist film Un Chien Andalou(1929) uses dream-like sequences to explore themes of the unconscious and desire, reflecting Freud’s impact on cinematic representations of psychosis ([Luis Buñuel, Un Chien Andalou (1929)]) Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist work, particularly *Nausea* (1938), engages with themes of absurdity and unconscious distress, resonating with Freud’s exploration of existential angst and psychological conflict ([Jean-Paul Sartre, *Nausea* (1938)])